Darkness Fallen

by Dave Willmarth

  Looking over his shoulder, Alexander saw Max with his bow drawn. Jules had disappeared. Sasha was looking out at the water, searching for signs of Rocky.

  Six of us, six of them. They’re higher level. Let’s see what they’ve got!

  Alexander said, just loudly enough for those across the bridge to hear, “Last chance. Attacking us would be a bad idea. Just walk away!”

  The enemy tank called out “Now!” and several things happened. The tank and the warrior both activated some type of charge ability and shot across the space between the parties. The tank crashed into Brick, shield to shield, with a resounding clang. Brick was pushed back a few paces but held himself upright.

  The warrior had charged at Grumpy, giant sword held high. Grumpy met the charge with a thrust of his shield as he stepped forward, leaning into it. The warrior impacted the shield and bounced back with a grunt.

  At the same moment, both archers fired at Alexander. One arrow hit him in the chest but failed to penetrate his mithril shirt. The other arrow stuck into his leg. The enemy mage sent one of the now-familiar black bolts at Sasha. Standard PVP tactic. Take out the healer first.

  Max had the same thought, shooting their druid in the face with a silence arrow, followed by a burst of five arrows to his chest. The druid fell backward, injured, but not dead.

  Sasha had seen the dark magic bolt coming and, fortunately, was able to dodge. The thing hit the wall of the gatehouse tunnel behind her with an explosion of dark magic.

  Sasha cast Thorn Trap on the group of casters and archers. Alexander quickly cast Wizard’s Fire on each of them. He took a moment to check on his two dwarves. Brick was trading shield bashes with the tank, getting in the occasional hammer blow. The tank was trying to reach over the top of Brick’s shield with his short sword to stab the dwarf in the face. Alexander cast Wizard’s Fire on the tank’s shield, figuring it would heat up and make things uncomfortable for him while healing Brick a bit.

  Grumpy was having little trouble with the warrior. The man kept bashing his big sword against Grumpy’s shield, not even trying to get past it. His plan appeared to be to break the shield, then get at the more vulnerable dwarf behind it. Grumpy, on the other hand, was scoring some hits with his two-bladed axe. His foe’s health bar was down about 20%.

  Alexander drew his sword as he felt a heal from Sasha tingle in his leg. Teleporting himself across the bridge and behind the archers, he stabbed one of them between the shoulder blades. The sword easily passed through the leather armor and exited the man’s chest, and he screamed as he dropped his bow. Yanking sideways on the blade as he withdrew it, Alexander did as much internal damage as he could, before teleporting back to his previous spot.

  The second archer was just turning to see who had killed his companion, and Max took the opportunity to put an arrow in the side of the man’s face. Alexander hit him with a magic bolt about the same time.

  The enemy mage was having a hard time getting another spell off, as the damage from the wizard’s fire kept interrupting her cast. Alexander hit her with a burst of light magic, causing her to scream in pain. He handed Sasha his Ray of Light wand, saying, “Keep hitting that bitch with the dark magic.” An evil grin was Sasha’s only answer as she hit the mage with a burst from the wand, then cast a heal on Brick.

  Alexander took another arrow hit as he turned away from Sasha. This one struck him in the head. It didn’t penetrate his skull but tore a painful chunk of his scalp away. His health bar dropped about ten percent, and his UI showed a ‘stunned’ debuff with a ten-second timer counting down.

  Out of the fight, he could only watch as the remaining archer put an arrow into Sasha’s gut before Max put a multi-shot burst into his face, knocking him down. The druid, now un-silenced, began casting heals on both archers. Max hit him with an arrow to the chest, interrupting a heal.

  Grumpy, apparently tired of being beaten upon by his foe, turned his shield slightly as the warrior bashed at him yet again with his oversized sword. As the warrior drew back his arms for another strike, Grump activated Shield Rush and shot forward into the man’s chest. The blow caught him off balance, and he fell backward off the edge of the bridge into the water below.

  The clever move cost Grumpy, though. The mage, seeing Grumpy’s side exposed as he impacted the warrior, sent a dark bolt into the dwarf’s side. It penetrated just below the bottom edge of his chest plate and burrowed into Grumpy’s abdomen. The dwarf fell to his knees, holding his side. A grunt of pain was his only audible reaction.

  Sasha immediately began casting her best heals on Grumpy. Alexander had had enough. He teleported once again, moving behind the mage even as he swung his sword. The blow struck the mage in the shoulder, severing her arm and cutting into her torso before catching on a rib. Alexander shoved her with his left hand as he pulled his sword back. The mage tumbled forward, but landed on her face on the bridge instead of falling off, as he’d intended.

  Before he could teleport away again, he was struck on the head from behind by the druid’s staff. The blow staggered him, dropping another 10% off his health bar. Turning toward the druid, he managed to raise his sword to block another incoming blow. He clumsily thrust his blade in the druid’s direction, but his aim was off, and the blade only met air. Meanwhile, the living archer was back on his feet and only two steps from Alexander. He drew a long knife and thrust it at Alexander’s chest. The mithril stopped the blade from penetrating, but the force of the blow pushed him backward. He tripped over the still-screaming mage and landed hard on his back.

  An arrow from Max kept the druid from bashing Alexander again with his staff. Alexander scrambled to get on his feet as the archer moved forward to stab at him again. He heard Sasha scream “duck!” and he looked her direction as he let himself fall back to the ground.

  Grumpy had, through some tremendous force of will, overcome the pain of the dark magic boring into him. The dwarf managed to stand and throw his axe. Alexander watched the double-bladed weapon spin end over end as it passed over the top of him before burying itself in the chest of the druid. The blow knocked the man backward into the archer, ruining his shot.

  Getting to his knees, Alexander lunged forward and drove his sword into the fallen druid’s throat, getting a critical hit on the incapacitated enemy, killing him.

  Max focused his fire on the remaining archer, hitting him with arrow after arrow in the chest and face as the man attempted to get a shot off. Alexander got to his feet and made his way back across the bridge and behind the tank. He winked at Brick as he took a two-handed swing of his sword, bring it down where the tank’s neck and shoulder met.

  His sword barely penetrated the armor plating there, but it was enough to distract the enemy. He turned to look at Alexander, giving Brick all the opening he needed. Brick bashed the man’s shield off to the side, making him turn even further toward Alexander, and leaving his back vulnerable. Brick dropped his shield and jumped up, raising his hammer above his head and bringing it down with both hands. The hammer struck the back of the tank’s head, caving in his helmet and stunning him. Alexander stabbed the man in the face, pushing him off the edge of the bridge into the water. Wearing fifty pounds or more of plate armor, the man sank instantly.

  Alexander looked around. Max was still pumping arrows into the archer, whose health was down to about forty percent. Brick lifted his shield and began to advance across the bridge. Alexander stepped behind him and began casting magic bolts at the archer. Brick stepped over the mostly-dead mage as he moved to help finish the archer. Jules appeared behind the archer, one dagger going into his back, the other being drawn across his throat. The man dropped dead. Just as he hit the ground, the mage screamed a spell as she rolled onto her back and pointed at Alexander. He tried to raise a magic shield as Brick turned to try and block her cast with his own shield. Neither were necessary. Before she could finish her cast, there was an explosion of water from below as Rocky’s head shot up and his jaws clamped onto the mage’s head
. There was a muffled scream, cut short as he sank back down, ripping her head from her body as he went. A fountain of blood jetted from her severed neck, coloring the water. Jules looked shocked for a moment before turning to empty the contents of her stomach all over the dead archer.

  Alexander looked around again. Sasha was sitting against the gatehouse wall, casting heals on Grumpy with an arrow still in her gut. Grumpy was laying on his back, writhing in pain and cussing like only a dwarf could.

  Brick immediately cast a holy heal on Grumpy, bringing his health back above 50%. The holy magic spell seemed to have an effect on the shit-weasel thing digging into the dwarf. Alexander pulled out his healing wand and pumped burst after burst of light magic into Grumpy.

  Sasha, her mana getting low after trying to heal Grumpy, took a moment to pull the arrow from her stomach and drink a healing potion. Then she drank a mana potion. She resumed her healing as soon as he mana bar was half full again.

  In guild chat, she called out “Kai! Grumpy’s been hit with one of those worm-bolts! We’re down on the drawbridge!”

  Even as Kai appeared on the bridge, Grumpy’s health bar dropped to zero. “Dammit!” Sasha yelled.

  Kai stepped over and reached into Grumpy’s wound, taking hold of the evil worm and crushing it. Brick took a knee next to Grumpy and used his holy paladin ability to resurrect the dwarf, thus preventing him from losing any experience points. Grumpy sat up after a moment, saying “Holy Durin’s hairy arsehole that hurt!” Everyone nodded their heads in sympathy.

  Max went around looting the corpses, saying, “Next time maybe don’t toss so many of them in the water? I can’t loot ‘em!”

  Alexander grinned. “Hey, Rocky?” he called out.

  Rocky’s head appeared in the water below. He snorted a bit and grinned at Alexander.

  “Heya, buddy. The two bad guys who sank to the bottom? Do you think you could bring their bodies back up here for a minute? We’ll peel off all of that nasty metal, and then you can snack on them.”

  Rocky nodded vigorously, then disappeared below. In just a moment, the tank’s body plopped up onto the bridge. From the tooth-marks on his chest plate, it was clear Rocky had been trying to nibble on the body already. A moment later the other warrior’s corpse landed on the bridge as well.

  Max waved at Rocky. “Thanks, pal!” He proceeded to loot both bodies, then roll them back into the water along with the bodies of the other players. Brick and Grumpy helped. Rocky made a few happy moat monster noises before disappearing below for lunch.

  When they were through, Kai teleported them all back to the keep.

  Chapter 17

  The End of The Beginning

  Brick and Grumpy made their way back to the smithy to repair the dings in their armor and shields. The rest of the group headed for the dining area, as lunchtime was approaching. Alexander had folks expecting him in Stormforge at noon, so he teleported himself to his quarters in Greystone Manor. After a quick cleanup, he headed downstairs.

  He waved at Master Ironhammer and the dwarves at the dragon forge as he passed by. Stepping out through the gate, he found several of the Stormforge volunteers gathered. Lydia was speaking to a few of them.

  Seeing Alexander, she waved him over. “Good morning, Alexander. I’m glad to see you doing well.”

  “Thank you, Lydia. And how are you today? Been doing any experimenting?” He winked at her.

  “I have indeed. But what sort of gentlemen would keep me out here on the street to discuss it?”

  Alexander facepalmed. “My apologies. We just now had a skirmish with a group of Chaos Nation adventurers at the door of our keep. My mind is still in battle mode.” He raised his voice “Please, all of you, come inside. Welcome to Greystone Manor.”

  He led them through the gates into the courtyard. “Please feel free to look around. We’re expecting more folks shortly, and then I’ll open the portal to the keep.”

  Motioning for Lydia to follow, he led her inside the house to the study. Offering her a comfortable chair, he asked, “How’s the baby?”

  She beamed at him as a hand drifted to her belly. “I think it’s a boy. He’s quite active and strong.”

  “A little warrior already!” Alexander smiled. “I’m very happy for you. And I know this goes without saying, but if you need anything at all from your growing group of neighbors, just ask. I’m sure Fibble would love to babysit!”

  “Ha!” Lydia rolled her eyes at him. “Between my husband and my brother, I’ll be lucky if I get to hold my son at all. Charles is already having someone craft tiny armor.” She rubbed her belly a bit. “I’m afraid they’ll be disappointed if it’s a girl.”

  “Nonsense. Your husband would be thrilled to have a little girl to spoil. I pity any boy who even looks at her anywhere in this city, though. She’ll have… what is it? A thousand uncles in the guard?”

  This made Lydia laugh out loud. “That is true. But enough about my offspring. I’ve been doing some experimenting with one of the enchanters from the Mage’s Guild. We’ve not found anything that will dissolve in the potions that holds a better charge than sugar cubes. But we took your idea a step farther, and we’ve begun trying to enchant the actual potion ingredients before we cook them. So far, I have had limited success. We did get a batch with a significant boost, but they smelled and tasted so bad I’m afraid no one would drink them. I think it will be just a matter of adjusting my recipes a bit.”

  Alexander was impressed. “That’s a clever idea. Wish I’d thought of it!”

  “Just building on your own discovery. It’s not as fast or effective as your method yet, as we have to enchant several separate ingredients. And of course, the sugar you use makes the potions taste better. But it has potential.”

  The sound of livestock filing through the gates caused them both to stand and head outside. There was quite the procession underway. Plowright led the way with the usual assortment of cattle, pigs, goats, and carts loaded with chickens in cages. Behind them was another wagon, driven by Regina, and filled with cages in a variety of sizes. They held everything from squirrels and rabbits to a bird that resembled a peacock, several reptiles, and a porcupine. Which Alexander hadn’t even known existed on Io. A pair of small monkeys rode atop the cages.

  Walking behind the wagon was Bodine. He was surrounded with larger creatures that could keep up with the wagon. There was a pack of nearly a dozen wolves, who seemed to be maintaining a perimeter and herding the others. Inside the circle of wolves walked a pair of bears, a pair of boars with several piglets, a grey and black tiger that approached the stature of the guild’s mounts, and a moose that was nearly the size of the wagon it followed.

  Lydia clapped her hands at the sight, smiling as if she were a child at a parade. “I didn’t realize Regina and Bodine had such a collection!”

  Thinking of all those critters dashing about the courtyard in the keep, Alexander said, “Yes, quite the variety.” Calling out to Plowright, he said, “I think it might be best to take all of these straight to the garrison tower! What do you think?”

  Plowright gave him a thumbs-up. Alexander turned to Lydia. “Would you like to see part of our new lands?”

  “Of course! Let me just go lock up the shop, and I’ll join you.” She hurried past the stream of critters and out the gate.

  Alexander moved through the house rather than try to push past the animals streaming around it. He went out the back door and opened the portal to the garrison tower. Plowright immediately began to herd his animals through.

  As Regina led her wagon through, Alexander opened guild chat. “Pollock, you and your guys want to meet me in the garrison tower in an hour? We’re going to go play with wolves east of the river. You might get new pets. Or you might have to kill some for xp.”

  Pollock answered “Either way is good for us. We’ll be there.”

  Lola’s voice came through next, “If’n ye don’t mind, I’d like to come along.”

  Alexander replie
d, “Of course. Any who have an interest in a potential wolf pet, or in leveling up a bit, are welcome. Use the mirror and come to the garrison tower in an hour. We’ll go investigate the east tower and hopefully meet some wolves.”

  Lydia joined Alexander, and the two of them stepped through the portal. Leaving Plowright, Regina, and Bodine to deal with the animals for a few minutes, he teleported Lydia up to the top of the tower.

  She looked around at the massive trees, the mountains to the north and south of them. “This is beautiful!” she smiled at him. And it seems to go on forever!”

  “Yeah, it’s about 600 square miles,” Alexander replied a little bashfully.

  Lydia looked surprised. “That’s more land that Stormforge can claim. Or Antalia. Good for you!” she looked around at the roof. The nest Braxis had built was still there. “Some kind of giant bird?” she asked.

  “Gryphon. Braxis. A survivor of the old army that fought a war here a thousand years ago. He’s brought a few of his gryphons to the keep. He wants to revive the Gryphon Corps.”

  Looking even more surprised, Lydia shook her head. “I swear, every time I see you, you have some new adventure or surprise for me!”

  Alexander gave her a tour of the tower as they walked down the stairs. She was particularly interested in a few of the labs on the upper floors, and he left her to explore. “Just be downstairs in an hour, when we head east, if you’d like to watch Bodine talk to the wolves,” he reminded her.

  Descending the rest of the way to the ground floor, he exited the tower and found Bodine. The man was looking around the enclosed space inside the walls.

  Alexander said, “You look confused.”

  “Well, I’m trying to find a good place to set up our little zoo. I don’t want to presume to take up space inside the tower…”

  Alexander nodded. “That could get pretty… odorous, if we all have to move in there at some point. Though you are welcome to claim yourselves a room inside. But let’s see what we can do about space for your critters.