Shadow Sun Rebellion

by Dave Willmarth

  Amanda shook her head. “Are you sure? I mean, they could have dropped a bomb on the north end of the island. Most of the buildings down here obviously caught fire. Maybe that was the cause. We could be getting irradiated right now.” She turned to him and her eyes glowed as she activated her Internal Analysis ability. After a moment, she shook her head. “If there’s radiation, the nanite thingies are counteracting it.”

  A honk of one of the Juggernaut’s horns turned them around to see the vehicles exiting the fort and moving toward them. Allistor couldn’t help but notice that there were four of the vehicles rather than two. The pair jogged down the ramp and met Andrea just as she was getting out of the lead vehicle.

  “Heya boss! I uhh… brought a few extra people. I figured with the droids tanking, it would be safe enough to give some of our lower level people some xp.”

  “Alright, how many did you bring?” Allistor didn’t mind. She was probably right. With the ability to put several battle droids between them and any enemy, they should be safe enough.

  “Thirty. And… don’t be mad, boss. But Nancy brought Chloe.” Andrea’s face scrunched up and her head sunk between her shoulders as if expecting an explosion.

  And Allistor’s first reaction, at least internally, was to be mad. He flashed back to the first day he’d met Nancy and Chloe, and all the times the little girl and her mother, and Allistor himself, had nearly died. He’d grown very attached to both of them over the last year. Nancy was one of their best healers, and he expected her to join them. She was high enough level and experienced enough to take care of herself.

  And that train of thought was what changed his mind. Nancy was experienced. She loved Chloe, and if she thought the benefit of bringing her daughter outweighed the risk, he would not argue. But he sure as hell was going to keep a careful eye on the little girl.

  With a sigh, he nodded once. “That’s Nancy’s call. But we’re all going to make sure that little girl doesn’t get a scratch on her, yes?”

  Andrea leaned in close. “I already detailed a couple of my guys as human shields, just in case.” Allistor patted her shoulder and gave her a wink.

  Chloe came running up, throwing herself into Allistor’s arms. After just a year, she was already taller, and stronger, than the little girl he’d pulled out of the sewers after saving her from the vermin.

  “Allistor! Mom said I could come and watch you let stuff bite you!” She grinned at him, pressing a kiss to his cheek and poking his chest. “I’m level six now! And Lilly made me this cool armor!” She stuck out her chest and thumped it with a tiny fist. Allistor checked the stats and laughed.

  Chloe’s Cocoon

  Complete Armor Set

  Item Quality: Very Good

  Attributes: Constitution +3, Stamina +2, Agility +2, Strength +1

  Lilly had clearly designed the armor to nearly double the little girl’s health, as well as give her the Strength, Agility, and Stamina to run away if she needed to.

  “This is amazing armor, Chloe! Lilly did a great job. And it looks good on you, too. You should wear it every day!” Allistor poked her in the belly, making her giggle.

  “I am! And I promise, I won’t get in the way today. Momma made me swear it. If I disobey, she’s going to send Max and the chickens and bunnies away.” The little girl stuck out her bottom lip and crossed her arms.

  “Your mom is a very smart lady. There are going to be some scary monsters where we’re going. Are you sure you’re ready for that?”

  “More scary than the giant that stomped our town? I don’t think so.” Chloe shook her head.

  Amanda laughed. “She’s got a point. And she’ll stay in the back with us healers, won’t you, little lady?”

  Chloe nodded. “I can cast heals too!” She cast Restore on Allistor to prove her point.

  “Well, then. You can tag along, I suppose.” Allistor pretended to be thinking it over. “If you promise to keep an eye on Fuzzy. He charged into the last fight, and I thought he was going to get himself killed. So you be ready to heal him up, okay?”

  Chloe nodded her head so quickly Allistor thought it might rattle her brain. He set her down, and she moved to take her mother’s hand. Nancy mouthed a silent thank you and ruffled her daughter’s hair.

  Allistor looked to Andrea. “We’ll do the depository first. Prime and his troops are probably already there clearing the upper levels. Let’s get grouped up, loaded up, and get over there before we miss all the xp.” He began sending raid party invites to everyone present.

  They redistributed everyone into the five Juggernauts and exited the gate, putting them right at the intersection of Battery and Broadway. Driving straight up Broadway, they saw up close the devastation seen from atop the wall. Buildings riddled with bullet holes, and walls blasted open. Dried blood was still splattered on walls both inside and out.

  Passing a couple small parks and several damaged high rises, Helen turned the lead vehicle right onto Liberty Street. And there it was, one block down on the left. The Federal Reserve Bank building. Allistor saw half a dozen of the battle droids standing guard at the main entrance. They parked the vehicles in a line along the curb, and exited. Already, Allistor was noting small experience gains of fifty and sixty points floating across his interface.

  One of the droids saluted. “General Prime reports that our troops have cleared floors one through five with no losses, and no contact with humans or other sentients, Sire. He estimates clearing up to and including the roof in thirty minutes.”

  “Ask him to bring down twenty of his troops and meet me on the ground floor. We’ll start clearing the lower levels as soon as he arrives.”

  There was a brief pause, and the sentry replied, “He will arrive in one minute.”

  “Cool!” Chloe shouted as she was surrounded by the glow that indicated she’d leveled up. Nearly everyone else was level fifteen or higher, and they were not getting much experience from the deaths of whatever creatures the droids were slaughtering. It would take literally hundreds or thousands of them to level him up even once. But at level six, Chloe was soaking up the sweet, sweet experience points. And it seemed the droids did not take a share of the experience.

  “Congrats, Chloe!” people called out, smiling at the little girl. She did a little dance on the sidewalk like she’d just scored a touchdown in the Superbowl. Prime walked out the door just as she was finished.

  “We are prepared to descend, Sire.”

  “Great, thank you Prime. I wanted to ask you before we head down, do your droids not share in the experience from their kills?”

  “No, Sire. We are artificial life forms. Classified by the system as weapons. All of the experience and loot from any kills we execute go to you and your party. Our upgrades must be purchased or manufactured for us.”

  “I see. Well, remind me when we’re done here, and we will purchase upgrades for all of your troops. We can discuss what you think are the best options when we have a little time.”

  “Thank you, Sire.” Prime saluted.

  They all filed inside the building, and Allistor found that the general had already stationed troops at the stairwells to guard against monsters coming from above or below. Allistor and Prime led the way down, with the humans, the bear, and the droids mixed together behind them. He also noticed that a rear guard of four droids followed the group, walking forward but with their movable eyes positioned at the back of their heads. Allistor cast a Light spell and set the globe to float ahead of him. Two or three others behind him did the same.

  The first basement level door was sitting open, ripped from its hinges and lying on its side. There were obvious claw marks in the metal of both the door and frame amid splashes of blood. Further evidence of clawed feet was seen in the form of deep gouges in the concrete leading down the stairs to the next level.

  Prime left two droids to guard the door as the group moved into the corridor. On either side of them were heavily barred sliding doors through which they could see
stacks and stacks of gold. Just like before, Allistor gave his instructions.

  “If we have to retreat, we pause here to break open a few of these and snag as much gold as we can.”

  They continued on until the corridor turned to the left. Allistor stepped close to the wall, leaning forward slowly to peek around the corner. Seeing nothing, he stepped out and waved the others to follow, pushing the light globe forward.

  That was his first mistake.

  A droning sound echoed down the hall, seeming to grow louder by the second. A moment later, a seething dark cloud emerged from one of the doorways. It paused for a moment, then shot right at him.

  Meat Bee Swarm

  Level 15

  Health: 200/200 x 6,400

  That was a new one for Allistor. He cast Barrier in front of himself, then prepared a Flame Shot and sent it flying down the hall. A few hundred of the bees were incinerated and dropped to the floor, but most avoided the spell. The agile little creatures had low health, but looked intimidating, maybe four times the size of a regular bumble bee, with sharp mandibles half an inch long.

  “Shiiioooot!” Allistor changed his curse-word for Chloe’s sake. “Back! Give me some room! I’m going to pull them toward me, you guys shoot them with the plasma. Don’t hit me!”

  Allistor backed toward the far corner of the intersection even as the others retreated a distance down the previous hall. As soon as the bees emerged, volleys of plasma from human and droid alike plowed into the swarm.

  Allistor, meanwhile, tucked himself into the corner and began to channel Vortex. As the wind picked up, it started to round up the bees, slamming some against the wall to bounce off, even angrier now. But the spell was slow to get started, and Allistor was stung on the hands and face dozens of times. He felt a heal wash over him, and turned to see Chloe waving at him from behind Amanda.

  Focusing on the spell, he channeled more mana into it. When the winds finally formed a solid cone and picked up enough speed to suck all the flying insects into it, Allistor shouted. “Somebody, Flame Shot them, now!”

  Amanda obliged, sending a ball of flame into the tightly packed swarm. The flames quickly spread, caught up and fed by the wind, and Allistor found himself roasting as the heat swirled just inches from him. The small tornado became a firestorm, the flames licking at his face as it grew more intense.

  When he couldn’t take the heat anymore, Allistor let the spell die. The bee corpses all fell to the ground, and he slumped down to take a seat himself. Drinking from his canteen, he mumbled, “Probably could have planned that better. Nearly cooked myself.”

  Though there were more than six thousand of the bees in the swarm, it only counted as a single mob. Once again, Chloe got a good amount of xp, while the others got minimal amounts.

  Allistor looked down at his skin. There were scores of bites on his hands, and he could feel more on his face. He’d been healed, but the bites had injected some kind of digestive fluid that kept dissolving his skin. Even as he watched, all the bites began to open again, small pits forming in his flesh.

  “Ew!” Chloe made a disgusted face as she watched the holes form on his face. “See what happens when you let stuff bite you? That’s just gross.” Allistor cast a heal on himself, and the wounds closed, but then just opened again. It wasn’t particularly painful, mainly itchy. But the idea of being digested alive repulsed him.

  Nancy handed him a cure poison potion, which he downed immediately. The dissolving agent must not have counted as a poison, because the potion had no effect. Once again the pits began to form.

  Frowning, Nancy scanned her inventory for a moment, then produced a bottle. “It’s vinegar. Might counteract whatever that is. Pour a little on your hand.”

  Allistor did as he was told, and the stinging sensation increased. But after a moment, it stopped altogether on that hand. He quickly poured a little on his other hand, then Nancy handed him a cloth which he soaked with the vinegar and rubbed on his face. It took a few minutes, but the vinegar did its job. This time when Chloe healed him, his skin stayed whole.

  Handing the bottle back, he said, “Thank you, Nancy. And Chloe.” The little girl smiled up at him and winked.

  Sam had been looking from the dead bees to the stairwell door and back. “I think now we know what happened. Something big ran into those bees, and they drove it so crazy it crashed through the door trying to get away.

  “I don’t blame it.” Allistor sympathized.

  Chloe reached down and picked up one of the crisped bees by a leg. The wings had all burned away. “They have no stingers.”

  “But those jaws do plenty of damage.” Allistor pointed to the mandibles.

  “I just got two hundred bee jaws.” Nancy said as she touched another one of the bees. Each of the humans reached down and touched a bee, taking their share of the little mandibles. Allistor figured they’d be good for crafting. Maybe as clasps in tailoring, or components of some kind of really mean trap.

  Continuing on, the rest of the floor was unsurprisingly clear. Those bees likely killed and ate anything that spawned in their territory. And there must have been plenty of spawns for the bees to have reached level fifteen.

  Returning to the stairwell, they continued downward. The fire exit diagram on the back of the next level’s door showed five basement levels in total. There was no evidence that the creature that had fled from level one had managed to open the level two door. Helen said, “Maybe it can’t work a door handle. Or it was injured crashing through that first door? It could be waiting for us at the bottom.”

  “Let’s hope the bees caught it and finished it off.” Meg added.

  Allistor raised a hand for quiet, then nodded to Logan, who opened the door for him.

  Once again, he cast Barrier on himself and stepped through. This time he held a plasma rifle at the ready as he moved. Two steps in, he stopped and moved to the right, crouching down next to the wall to make room for others to fire if necessary.

  The corridor appeared clear. It was more of the lockers with steel bar doors, packed floor to ceiling with gold bars. Allistor rose and crept forward, motioning for the others to follow as he moved down the corridor. Despite his already vast wealth, he couldn’t help but admire the stacks upon stacks of shiny gold bullion that reflected the light from his globe.

  Reaching the intersection, he repeated his actions from upstairs and peeked around the corner. There were two bodies on the floor about halfway down the hall. Allistor mistook them for corpses until one of them snorted and shifted its body. He Examined them before pulling his head back.

  Leprechaun Enforcer

  Level 20

  Health 31,000/31,000

  Allistor spoke quietly into his radio. “They’re friggin leprechauns!”

  “See mommy! I told you they were real!” Chloe shouted, causing everyone to cringe and Nancy to clamp a hand over her mouth. Allistor gave the woman a look, and she nodded her head. Keeping the hand over her daughter’s mouth, she bent down to whisper in Chloe’s ear. The little girl’s eyes widened, then filled with tears as her mother explained to her how she’d just put everyone at risk. Nancy hugged the girl to her, and both Amanda and Helen joined in. That was a harsh lesson for a little one to learn. When they released the child, she looked at Allistor and mouthed, “I’m sorry.” He gave her a thumbs-up and a smile.

  Prime’s voice came through all their radio earbuds. “Leprechauns are notoriously nasty fighters. They mainly use spells, both illusion and offensive, but are also quite fast and strong for their stature. They favor bladed weapons like daggers and short swords.” He paused, then added, “With the quantity of gold stored here, there will likely be an entire clan protecting it.”

  Allistor thought about it for a moment. “Alright. I saw two of them, both sleeping. That might be an illusion, so be ready. I’ll take the lead. General, if you’ll accompany me?”

  The general saluted and stepped up next to Allistor, who whispered, “I’ll stun the one
on the left, general. Focus fire on the other one.”

  With that, he stuck his head out again and cast Mind Spike on the leftmost sleeping leprechaun. It awoke screaming, holding its head as it rolled around on the floor. The other one stood, already waving its hands. They looked nothing like the storybook Irish leprechauns of Allistor’s childhood. No red hair, beard, and green button-down coat. These had black skin and even blacker hair, grown long and braided in the back. Standing maybe three feet tall, their attire was patched together from animal hides of different shades and textures, including their boots. The one waving his hands had three fingers and a thumb on each, all ending in wickedly curved and sharpened nails.

  Before he could finish the spell, Prime shot him in the face with both plasma rifles. The energy blasts didn’t kill the tough little creature, but did manage to interrupt the spell. The general moved to the far wall and crouched down, still firing. The hits were burning the leprechaun’s skin, but not penetrating. Its health was dropping slowly, but steadily.

  Behind Allistor, the others moved into the corridor and began to fire. The droids had formed a front rank, and dropped to their knees to allow the humans to fire over top of them. In ten seconds the dozens of plasma bolts mowed down both mobs, neither of them having been able to cast a single spell.

  But the one Allistor had attacked had alerted the others with its screams. Even as Allistor was moving forward to loot the dead mobs, the air wavered slightly, and the bodies disappeared.

  “Illusion spell, strong one.” General Prime observed. “Droids, dispersion pattern epsilon. Fire!”

  The row of battle droids fired in a coordinated pattern, each bolt fired simultaneously and distanced equally from the ones to either side. They effectively created a line of plasma that cut the air like a wire as it traveled down the hallway. There were shouts of pain and anger from out of nowhere, then the illusion faltered. Allistor and the others saw half a dozen of the leprechauns already preparing to cast more spells. The droids fired again, with the humans right behind them. Allistor cringed as lightning bolts shot back down the hall, striking droid and human alike. The smell of smoking plastic and roasted meat reached his nostrils, and he saw several of his people go down. None of them went grey on his interface, but several were in bad shape.