Defenders of the Realm

by Dave Willmarth

  There was a brief silence in guild chat, during which time Fibble came bounding into the study, bounced off a bookcase, knocked over a pile of looted books, and landed cleanly atop Alexander’s desk. “Fibble go! Kill demons! Pew! Pew!” he drew his shiny new sword from his back and began to battle shadows up and down the desk top.

  Alexander grinned “Apparently Fibble’s in. Anybody else?”

  “Aye, I’ll go. Grumpy too.” Brick answered.

  Jules answered rather sheepishly “I’ll come with you, Alexander.” Her tone reminded him that the last time he’d been in there, she’d nearly gotten them killed, and he had upset her with his reaction.

  “Nobody I’d rather have watching my back” He said, hoping it was the right thing to say.

  Lugs spoke up next. “I’ll go. Helga says she’s in too, and Benny.”

  Sasha chimed in as well. Alexander instructed them to meet him in the courtyard. He patted Fibble on the head, carefully avoiding the still-present arrow shafts stuck in the helm. “Let’s go, buddy. Time to kill demons!”

  Fibble hopped off the desk and hit the floor running. He was through the sitting room and halfway to the stairs before Alexander even left the study. He trotted down to meet the others in the courtyard. Upon arrival he found Fibble already sitting atop Lugs’ shoulder. The little goblin protector looked abashed at his feet. Lugs was bleeding profusely from a slice along the side of his head above his ear. Alexander could guess what happened.

  He cast a light magic heal on Lugs even as he asked, “Anyone here feel qualified to give Fibble some sword-fighting lessons before Lugs loses an ear?”

  Jenkins, who had appeared with his squad when they heard Alexander was planning a trip, volunteered. “I can teach him, Maj-… sir.” Fibble immediately perked up and jumped down from Lugs’ shoulder to Jenkins’ chest. He held on, looking the guard captain in the face from about two inches away. “You teach Fibble? Make him better for killing demons?”

  Grimacing at the stench of the goblin’s breath, Jenkins lifted Fibble off his chest and set him on the ground. “Yes. I will teach you.” He promised.

  As Fibble jumped up and down with excitement, Alexander said. “Thank you, Jenkins. You can disperse your men. I’ve got more than sufficient escort with Fibble here to protect me.”

  Jenkins looked at the small green Minister of Demon-killing in confusion. Looking up to see Lugs, two dwarf tanks, Helga, Benny, Jules, and Sasha standing around, he nodded. “Fair enough, sir. Have a good trip.”

  Fibble, of course, took Alexander literally. He stood straight and threw his shoulders back, marching proudly in a small circle around Alexander. “Fibble protect! Kill demons! Pew! Pew!”

  Alexander invited all of them to a party and teleported the group to a spot just outside the walls that now surrounded the demon caverns. As they walked to the gate, a whistle came from the woods behind them. Alexander turned to find one of the hunters up in a tree, waving. He returned the greeting before stepping through the gates. There were three rock trolls sitting inside the walls, munching on large bits of elk carcass they had apparently roasted themselves.

  Not sure if any of them could understand him, he said “Looks good! Are you getting enough to eat?”

  One of the trolls nodded its boulder-like head and held up a half-roasted haunch. “Eat!” it declared.

  Alexander decided that was good enough. “We’re going inside. You wait here.” He made a patting motion with his hands, which he deemed probably completely unnecessary since none of the rock trolls seemed inclined to move at all.

  Turning to the sealed cavern entrance, he used his Earth Mover skill and began to liquefy the stone. He worked his way back into the tunnel as his group stood by with weapons ready. It didn’t take long for them to reach within a few feet of the dungeon portal. Brick spoke up “I been watchin the stone, and there be no evidence o’ them tryin to break thru so far.” Grumpy nodded his head in agreement.

  Alexander used his Earth Sense, then motioned toward the stone ahead. “Brick? Can you sense anything? It seems solid to me until the portal.”

  Brick stepped forward and hooked his hammer on his belt. He placed his weapon hand on the stone and closed his eyes. “The stone be warm, but not hot. Might be, they tried fire?”

  Standing in the middle of the tunnel, Brick used his more fine-tuned Shaping skill to create and widen a path through the stone. He made it just wide enough for two dwarves, or one ogre tank, to block completely. After less than a minute, Alexander could see the portal appear in front of them. There was no sound, no evidence of anything coming through to impact the stone. Physical or magical. Brick stepped back three paces and held up his shield. Grumpy took his place on Brick’s left.

  They stood that way for maybe two minutes before Sasha said, “are we going to watch the pretty purple portal all day? Or are we going in?”

  “Bwahaha! She be right. Let’s go see what beasties be inside.” Brick nodded to Grumpy and the two of them stepped forward. Lugs followed, then Helga, Jules, and Alexander. Sasha, and Fibble came next, and Benny brought up the rear.

  When Alexander entered the starting area, he saw the two tanks already moving toward the corridor ahead. There were no mobs of any kind visible, but that had been the case last time, too. Once Benny was through and ready, the tanks moved forward. Brick, Sasha, and Alexander had cleared this dungeon once before. Only a few weeks ago, in fact. Though it seemed much longer; they remembered it well enough.

  As they approached the first room where Jules had alerted so many mobs before, she went into stealth mode. Brick hugged the wall closest to the door and peered inside. After a moment, he leaned further and stuck his head into the doorway. Seeing nothing, he stepped fully into the doorway and shook his head. “Nothin. The room be empty.”

  Alexander’s gut clenched. He’d have much rather found twenty or thirty angry demons and undead creatures shambling about.

  Just to make sure there was no trickery or illusion, the whole group entered the room. Lugs took out a spear and began to swing it about, reaching into the corners and along the walls. The weapon found only air.

  Sasha spoke quietly. “Let’s move on. Quickly. Last time we were here there were no floor traps, but you dwarves and dorkboy need to be checking as we go.”

  Alexander did as he was told and used his Earth sense to search the stone below the corridor ahead as they moved out. “We’re good all the way to the turn” he reported.

  Brick took the lead, and they walked briskly down the corridor until they came to the next room. This one was on the opposite side. Feeling frisky, Brick just hopped in front of the door with shield up, shouting “Yer mother’s a goblin and yer da’s an imp!”

  His voice echoed back at him from another empty room. Once again they checked to be sure, before moving on. Their pace increased slightly as they continued through room after room of nothing but bare walls. When they reached the end of the straight corridor, they turned left and continued to what was previously the floor boss’s chamber. It was a wide rectangular room that had a staircase leading down from the back end. There were alcoves along each side wall, from which the mini-boss had called adds at 50% health, and again at 25%.

  They checked each alcove as they moved toward the stairs. Again there was nothing. Not even a smell. If the undead had been there recently, there should have been a lingering odor. Alexander began to be very afraid that this army had slipped past him long ago. Maybe the same day he’d sealed them in. Though if that were the case, why would Howard and his drow have been trying to get to the caverns?

  Sasha said “First floor cleared. In record time!” Her grin almost made Alexander smile. “Let’s head down. Maybe they’re all waiting to zerg us at the bottom?”

  Brick led the way. For the next hour they cleared room after room and level after level. Alexander was distracted, just following the group as his mind raced.

  They’re clearly not here. Where did they go? Did the drow wiza
rds call them back? Or are they lurking somewhere in Elysia? Or Stormforge? Thought Alexander.

  When they reached the final chamber, Alexander’s last hopes were dashed. The oily pool that Sr’Vok had emerged from was still there, as was the altar with the empty podium. But there was no evidence of any enemy.

  Still, Brick led the way down the ramp and into the room. Alexander cast four light globes and sent them hovering in the cardinal directions. They searched behind boulders and in dark corners. Even if the enemy was not here, there had to be an orb. Otherwise how could they have escaped? Alexander was standing at the edge of the pond, contemplating whether to step in and search for the orb, when Lugs called his name.

  “Uhhh… Alexander? I think this is for you.”

  He turned from the pond and walked a short distance to where Lugs was standing in front of the altar. The ogre pointed at the dais, and Alexander’s gaze followed. There were words roughly scratched into the floor and stained with blood. It looked like it had been done in a hurry. Or in a frenzy. He crouched down to get a closer look.

  SESHAT DIED SLOWLY

  Sasha, who had been looking over Alexander’s shoulder, said “Oh, shit.” Alexander straightened back up and turned to look at her. “Has to have been Matt, right? No way Howard made it down here.”

  Brick shook his head. “The cops won’t be lettin’ him go. Ye see’d him get disconnected yerself.”

  Sasha countered “He could have sent someone to do this. I mean, one of his minions.”

  Alexander moved to sit on one of the boulders. The others faded away to continue the search for the orb. Fibble hopped up on the rock next to Alexander then plopped down on his tiny butt. “Boss scared? Fibble protect.”

  “Thank you Fibble.” Alexander patted the little goblin’s back absently. “Hey, you remember the black ball? The one the dark man gave you for a surprise?”

  Fibble nodded sadly. “Bad surprise.” He confirmed.

  “Well, do you think you could help us? There’s another bad surprise here. Just like that one. Can you find it?”

  Fibble nodded determinedly and hopped back off the rock. He sped toward the back of the room and Alexander soon lost sight of him. The cavern grew quiet as the search continued. Only the occasional scuff of a boot or a scrape of armor against a rock broke the silence. Alexander was fighting not to panic. The missing army could be marching on the keep right this moment.

  Stop it, dork. If they were at the keep, someone would be shouting in guild chat right now. Your people are safe for the moment. You need to get the orb and get out of here. Warn the other rulers about the missing army. Start a search of every inch of Elysia. Every cave, gully, and hole in the dirt.

  His thoughts were interrupted by a scream that could only have been Fibble. Alexander’s subconscious told him there’d also been a splash before the scream, and he ran toward the pond. He could see some of the others moving in that direction as well. Another scream, and Alexander could see Fibble’s health bar dropping on his UI. He reached the edge of the pond but found no sign of the goblin. Just some ripples in the water. Sasha was coming around the edge of the pond toward him shouting “Something grabbed him and pulled him in!”

  Alexander and the others desperately scanned the surface of the pond.

  A few seconds later Jules shouted and pointed. “There! Bubbles!”

  Alexander didn’t hesitate. Orienting himself on the bubbles he dove into the oily water. He activated his Mage Sight and opened his eyes. The foul water stung like lemon juice in his eyes, but he ignored the irritation and stroked toward the spot the bubbles had risen. He could see the green and red aura of his goblin about twenty feet away and deeper under the surface. He began to stroke with everything he had. There was another shape, one that had a much darker hue in his Mage Sight’s spectrum. It was a ruddy red mixed with purple. The shape of the thing was familiar.

  Pulling closer, Alexander watched the corner of his UI as Fibble’s health ran dangerously low. He cast a Healing Light spell on the little goblin, and the bar moved up close to 50%. A few strokes later and he got a clearer view of Fibble’s attacker.

  It was a crab like thing with eight long spindly legs and a cluster of eyes on the front of its head above a set of wicked-looking mandibles. One of its foreclaws was clamped onto Fibble and the other was snipping pieces off his arm and shoving them into its maw. Fibble’s health was dropping steadily.

  Spider Crab Demon

  Level 50

  Health 18,000/18,000

  Alexander blasted the thing with a channeled Ray of Light spell. Its squeal echoed through the water as it turned to glare at him. He continued to push himself forward. His lungs were beginning to burn from holding his breath. But he maintained the channel as he moved. Fibble screamed, the last of his air leaving him as the angry demon squeezed him reflexively. Alexander focused his cast on the joint that connected the crab’s arm with the claw that held Fibble. After a moment, the claw separated. Alexander instantly teleported Fibble up to where the others had been standing. The little goblin protector’s health bar was bottoming out. If he had a bleed effect going when he died, his dragon pin wouldn’t help him. Alexander was depending on Sasha to save their little green buddy.

  The demon was rushing through the water toward him, its spindly legs pushing it along the bottom with considerable speed. Alexander’s lungs and eyes were burning, and he just wanted out of the foul water. He cast Levitate on himself, and rushed toward the surface. Breaking through to relatively clear air, he hovered there gasping for breath.

  He turned to see Sasha kneeling over Fibble as the others looked on. The goblin’s health bar on his UI was up to 10%. Alexander manipulated the spell to move toward the group and lowered himself to the floor. At the last moment he canceled the spell and dropped the last few inches.

  Sasha looked up at him. “Some kind of poison! I’m keeping him alive, but just barely. What attacked him?”

  As if to answer her question, the spider crab demon surged out of the pond and raced toward the group. Brick instantly had his shield out and was preparing a Shield Rush when a long spear flew past him and blasted through the crab’s body. Its health bar dropped to zero and the legs went limp. Everyone turned to look at Lugs, who just shrugged. He walked over to retrieve the weapon, looking distastefully at the black ichor that now covered the lower half of the spear. He bent to loot the corpse, then kicked it into the water.

  Alexander turned back to Sasha. He cast a Healing Light spell on Fibble, and the little guy’s health bar climbed again. This time it didn’t drop again so quickly. “It was a demon, so some dark poison, probably.” Sasha said. “Brick! How bout a little holy healing magic?”

  The dwarf knelt down and placed a hand on Fibble’s chest, and cast his strongest heal. The dark poison was no match for Durin’s light magic, and it burned away instantly. Fibble’s health bar returned to full, and he began to cough. Everyone stepped back as foul oily water erupted from the little goblin’s mouth.

  “That’s just nasty” Jules observed.

  Alexander grinned and spread his arms wide. Still covered in the slimy stuff from his swim, he advanced on Jules.

  “Give us a hug. Aw, c’mon. Don’t run away.” He teased as she took several steps back then drew her daggers and gave him a meaningful look.

  Fibble coughed up the last of the water in his lungs and spat. Sasha gave him a health potion. Mainly because she didn’t want to share her water flask with the filthy goblin. Fibble was quite pleased with the gift and gulped it down quickly. “Taste much better. Thank you Sasha.”

  He looked around and asked “Where demon? We kill?”

  Alexander pointed to Lugs and said “Lugs killed him. He saved you!”

  Fibble shook his head. “Fibble saw. Boss went in nasty water to save Fibble. Cut off demon arm and send Fibble to Sasha. Fibble not forget.” He reached out a tiny slimy hand, and Alexander shook it as solemnly as he could manage.

  Brick cal
led out from the edge of the pond. “I think I found yer orb.” He pointed toward the center of the water. “Was usin’ Mage Sight to look fer more beasties, and this be what I see’d”

  Alexander could see the thing now as well. It was perhaps twenty yards from the shore and deep within the pond. He tried to cast Levitate on it, but it didn’t move. He looked at Brick, who shrugged. “Maybe it be held down by something?”

  With a sigh, Alexander began to walk back into the nasty water. The smell reminded him of the dead demon’s snake head that Brick had toted around for a day or so after they’d killed him. When he got chest deep in the water, he took another deep breath and dove down toward the orb. Stroking as quickly as he could, he approached the thing.

  As Brick had guessed, it was attached to the floor. Held in place by a stone claw that rose up from below. Alexander liquefied the stone and reached for the orb. At the last second he decided against touching it, and used Levitate to push it ahead of him back to the shore. Brick was already waiting with a stone box. They sealed the thing inside, and Brick stowed it in his bag.

  “That’s two o’ them things I got in here.”

  Alexander said “Oh. Yeah, Fitz will be stopping by to get those.”

  Brick shuddered a bit. “Fine by me. The things be creep’n me out.”

  With nothing left to do in the cavern, Alexander teleported them all back to the entrance room. When they stepped through the dungeon portal and walked through the tunnel, Alexander once again sealed the entrance with stone. Though this time he only made it about twenty feet deep.

  When they stepped out of the caverns into the enclosure, the rock trolls sniffed at them, then moved away. One of them made comments in its own tongue that Alexander didn’t need translated. Jules giggled happily and mimed holding her nose and pointing at Alexander. To which the rock trolls all nodded and laughed in their gravelly voices.

  Alexander attempted a sneak attack, intending to hug Jules close and share the funky stank with her. But as usual she was too fast for him. She dashed forward and hid behind a rock troll who was suddenly less amused and trying to back away himself. Alexander took pity on them and kept his distance. He was starting to dry out, and the smell was only getting worse.