by Lars M.
"Mrrm. In that case, allow me to begin with the assurances. I assure you that you did a decent job. In fact, you almost had me convinced that you were sincere. Still, I see now that this is a bluff. Attack my guards? Try to trick me? You were trying to lure me into an agreement because you didn't have the forces to defeat me by yourself." Were his claws longer than before?
Well, more like I was trying to lure him into talking about his nefarious plans, but... why not? Might as well make the best of this. I shrugged. "True. We believed the odds of surviving an ambush were not too good. Given that they've just turned a bit worse, we might even agree to adjust some of our terms. So, tell me what it is you need in the forest, and I will see what we can do to assist."
"Your acting skills are impressive, I will grant you that much. And I could very well elaborate on the goals of the Order of Broken Earth, and how you have been lied to for decades - if I believed in your sincerity. However, I see that Othell was right. You claim you are here to act in good faith, when really, you are here to cheat me. Your body clearly states that it is ready to run away at any moment." One claw pointed straight at me in an accusatory gesture.
Of course. Damnit. He was half predator. My damn body language gave me away. I glanced to the side. Only three of them still lingered near the edge. That would be...
A voice next to my ear interrupted my thoughts. "You will not get that chance."
"Gah. How... you're quick."
The catfolk grabbed onto my shoulder. "I am also looking forward to talking with you, at great length. For now, however..." he turned around to bellow, "archers to the fore. The rest of you, stand by. We will take them at a distance." Lowering his voice, he continued, "Othell, this is your chance to make amends. Release your pet and notify us of any other surprises. Our friend here would be the type to have backup plans." I watched in morbid fascination as a liquid shadow detached itself from the castle wall and launched itself into the air. Damn you, Tirane. He did have a flying pet.
Soldiers passed me by, readying bows and crossbows with eager grins. I glanced nervously at Othell. There wouldn't be much time to work with now. Ignoring the feeling of my bones being clutched in the painful grip of the monstrous half-feline, I addressed him, "Lord Tergeth. There is one final thing?"
He grinned and his warm breath washed over me. It smelled like alcohol and meat. "Spirit. I enjoy that. Even in this situation, you would attempt to bargain?"
I looked straight into the eyes of the huge predator towering over me and grinned. Hell, I might even have laughed. "No. In fact, I never meant to bargain at all. I only wanted to distract you, you slavering moron."
Behind the towering catfolk, Othell shouted out in alarm. "Harpies? My lord, there are harpies everywhere."
Closing my eyes, I selected my High Tide skill, feeling my Charisma soar to the heavens, and shot a Stun Blast straight at the monstrous feline holding me back. I had a split second to enjoy the enraged look on his face before he fell to the ground, shaking with seizures. Sareena cried out in alarm, but I was gone. Wrenching away from the clawed hand that still grabbed onto my shoulder, I sprinted the opposite way, right toward the edge. I almost lost my balance as I snatched up the rope lying hidden on the ground and ran onwards.
It had been Arack's idea. "I mean, sure, first we see if there has been some sort of misunderstanding, like Lyle says. Then, when that fails, we need to take them down? Since we need to talk to them first, stealth isn't the best approach - and attacking them in their own home? Yeah, that’s also dumb. That means we need a way to take them down. Something they won't see coming."
The "something" was three lengths of rope tied together and painstakingly affixed to poles that had been planted into the very edge of the island. I hadn't counted on the damn rope being so heavy, but right now, I ignored everything else, focusing on gaining speed and keeping the rope high enough that... yes! I was only two meters from the edge when the rope snagged on to the first of our enemies. Mid-step, I summoned a Sonic Push straight at my back, feeling my momentum increase even more. Three more steps, four, and my run was slowing down, cries erupting around me as the rope snagged onto even more of the unaware archers. A flash of heat and pain erupted behind me. Sareena had joined the battle and missed - somewhat. Another step, and I found myself teetering on the edge of the cliff, momentum almost nonexistent... and then suddenly, I was falling. Behind me, panicked screams followed as my body weight dragged along those I had caught unaware.
I didn't have time to focus on that. There wasn't even time to reflect on my own stupidity as the ground flew up to meet me. Mid-fall, my forward progress was broken by the rope pulling taut, right across my midsection. My breath was expelled forcibly as a line of burning pain hit my midsection. I flip-flopped in the air, continuing my descent while staring straight up at the night sky. In panic, I shot off another Sonic Push at my back, trying to adjust my descent.
It worked. Sort of. I managed to keep myself from breaking my back, at least. Still, my landing was far from the controlled descent I'd pictured when I’d come up with the idea. It was more of a spinning cartwheel of doom that miraculously managed to end up with me rolling over the ground instead of breaking something. As I finally lay still, praising my Acrobatics skill, screams nearby indicated that others were worse off.
Chapter 38 – Outclassed
I could have stayed there for half an hour, reclined in comfort in the dirt, wondering how the hell I'd managed that stunt without breaking anything. The sharp metal sound of an arrow hitting something and skittering across the ground right next to me made me reconsider. I forced myself to my feet and ran on shaky legs toward the tree line.
Never had Lyle looked so good. He waved at me, guiding me the last couple of steps and welcoming me with a health potion. I grabbed it, eagerly chugged it down, and turned about to see what was happening.
It was a massacre. I had managed to catch a large part of the archers stationed near the edge of the island with the rope. Their falls had been ugly, and a few of them still lay where they had landed, suffering from broken necks or legs. On top of that, the moment they had hit the ground, our hunters had turned them into target practice. With the light floating overhead, there wasn’t even any need for the night-vision buffs as they made short work of the downed and injured enemies. Just fifteen seconds later, the last archer on the ground stopped screaming with a gurgling sound.
I took stock of our situation. For now, we only had one person out of commission - one of the kobolds had taken an arrow to the stomach and was leaning against a tree, clearly in pain. Our enemies, on the other hand, were down seven… no, eight, archers. The few remaining archers up above had been forced to pull back, and I could hear bellowed commands from within the castle. The skies were filled with sound as well, trills and whistles from the harpies as they struggled with Othell's shadowed companion.
I made my way over to my own team and checked out the blinking debuffs I'd gained - a sprained ankle for -2 agility, and severe rope burn for -2 concentration – wonderful. Right then, however, an intimidating shriek tore the night sky, followed closely by the flapping of wings. I readied my spells and tried to pierce through the darkness until I recognized Tirane. She landed right near the tree line, looking over her shoulder. Seconds later, she approached us with the rest of her group. The look on the warrior's face was equal parts frustrated and embarrassed. "As long as that monster harasses us, we will have to stay away. I'm sorry, Arcangelo. If you take it out, we can rejoin the battle and start sniping from up high."
One step forward and two steps back. So we had managed to take out most of their archers - and lost our own air support in the process. Not only that, they would reign the skies uncontested for now. A minute of terse discussion, with everybody staring at the island, resulted in an agreement on how to approach the situation, and Tirane and her sisters took off again. The plan was unchanged - with one large difference.
"I'm really not going to get used to this.
What is it with you and wanting to expose yourself to arrows. You like being bait?" Lyle's comment sounded only half in jest, and his eyes flew from side to side, scanning the edge of the island for any of our enemies to reappear.
I grinned, trying to project the confidence I lacked. "It's not that I really want to. I'm just too dumb to come up with better plans, and my friends never talk me out of my stupid ideas, either."
"Oh, so it's our fault now?" Even through the tenseness of the situation, I could hear his grin.
"Yup. In fact, I'm officially blaming you all."
"Fair. Huh - is that noise..." Lyle stopped.
"Yeah. Here they come."
The roaring sound came from the throats of our enemies, who had evidently decided to reengage in combat, this time with a vengeance. I glanced about me, satisfied to see our forces properly arrayed. I was actually thankful for the elf's flare spell, since fighting in complete darkness would have been worse for us than for them. Our ranged fighters were back at the treeline, protected from the worst volleys from spellcasters and archers. Tirane had agreed to stay close, in case our scheme worked. I was in front, along with Lyle, while our warriors hung back in a loose line, ready to charge in. The din grew, and soon, figures could be spotted near the edge of the Shard.
A handful of archers appeared and started firing indiscriminately at everybody below. I knelt behind Lyle's towering figure and tried to remain calm. "It doesn't seem like they're even aiming - what are they even - ah."
They were a distraction. From the other side of the island, dark shapes gave away their plan - to keep us pinned down while their warriors descended the two hindmost chains to close on us.
Morak was on it, though, already running with his group to intercept them, and Naevys was taking my group to head off the enemies at the other chain. Our own ranged damage dealers were focusing on the archers above, and I saw one enemy crossbowman fall back with a cry of pain.
In short, while it looked like we were about to be overwhelmed by a mass of enemy combatants, everything was going according to plan. Mostly. My fist pumped into the air as one of the enemy warriors went down, wailing in pain. Soon, others joined him, and roars turned to screams as our enemies discovered the hard way how Darya, Benneth, and I had spent a full hour riddling the place with traps.
It was a grisly sight, to be sure. Spikes sprouted from legs, dark magic exploded from the ground, and wires cut and entangled. It was not enough, however, and most of my personal traps were debuffs, not meant to kill. Still, as they slowly ground their way over the minefield, both enemy groups appeared diminished and less eager. Of course, that was when the enemies' champions joined the fight.
Our warriors sprang for their lives as a stream of fire burst into being from the island, pouring down into their path. From high above, an ecstatic shriek of laughter followed the flames. I saw Lyle's father trying to pat out embers on his leg while running. Behind me, Darya downed a potion and unleashed a scream of rage. She yelled, ”Torch my village?" and ran out into the open, firing arrow after arrow at the cackling sorceress.
I was too busy to watch. At the same time that Sareena attacked, my own nemesis made his appearance as a blob of darker shadows up above. Time to enact our plan. "Hey, Othell!" I shouted. "Did you know I own your house now? I'm having it torn down, though. Smells like wet rat."
The response came immediately as an angry shout was followed by a buzzing, keening mass of dark energy launching itself my way. I was already moving, however, and it barely missed me. I yelled. "Oh, Autoria sends her regards, too. She hated your help." I sent a Sonic Wave in his direction without even checking to see if it was on course.
The next attack was a cloud that enfolded both Lyle and myself, and I grunted as my health started ticking down slowly. I raised my violin again and started playing. No attack, this time, however. We'd discussed this - how to prepare and overcome a flying creature of darkness, at night, when there was nothing challenging it in the skies? Bait. Bait, and a hope that our prey would go for it. "Come on, Othell. You're not even trying. I was going to invent a song about our fights. The Lowdown Rat. Like the title?" As I played, the jolly tune of The Pied Piper was a stark contrast to the dire situation of our battle. Cries and battle sounds surrounded me, but I was completely focused on the here and now, moving about constantly to avoid as much damage as possible.
Lyle jumped, intercepting a dark missile clearly intended for me with his shield. The dark energy traveled down his arms, wracking his entire body with pain, but he powered through it, raising his shield once again. "Come on, you coward. Is that really the best you've got? The evil despoiler in my song would-"
Funny thing about Entrance Animals. It was an Area of Effect spell, meaning it would attempt to affect any animal entering the radius of its effect. Running animals would slow down, carefully coming to a pause near me. As to flying animals who were in the middle of a diving attack? No effect whatsoever.
Or maybe it did have some effect. It wasn't like I’d had a chance to spot the damn beast. I didn't know exactly when Othell had become ticked off enough to send in his pet, but I sure as hell felt it when he got there. I had no warning. No flapping of wings, no helpful screeching or dark energy preceding the attack, only a hint of movement, followed by pain, as the pet charged straight into me.
As I was flung arse over elbows along the ground, my concentration shattered and I could feel the spell tumbling apart. Thoughts of my failure flew through my mind until I finally came to a rest on my side. Keening in distress right next to me was Othell's demonic monstrosity. I realized that our plan had worked: the animal had been unable to correct its course. However, my current position, within arm's reach from the monster, was anything but enviable.
The Shadow-infested Giant Eagle looked - well, exactly like you'd expect an unholy marriage between an eagle, shadows, and uncontrolled mutations to end up. The creature was huge but emaciated, dark skin stretched over the bones, with a set of wings that looked like they’d been covered in tar, ending in a row of spikes. Running along its stomach was a line of additional limbs or hooks that looked designed to welcome anybody hit into a torturous embrace, like a living, breathing iron maiden. The entire body was pus-infected, covered with sores that dripped dark matter. Standing up, it would probably be around my height, and lying down, it was still much larger than I was. Oh, and it was scrambling to close in on me. The only thing keeping it from slashing me to bits was the fact that one of its legs was hanging at an unhealthy angle. I rolled to get away, ignoring the blinking icon of yet another debuff. Giant claws traced furrows in the earth, and now it keened, a shrill, piercing cry that turned my rattled brain to mush and gave me double vision. Crawling, scrambling, I fought to get away but managed to trip over my own legs. With a triumphant shriek, the bird caught the sleeve of my tunic and dragged itself close.
I was close enough to feel the rancid breath of the animal and tried frantically to summon Audible Horror, but my mind was scrambled, lacking all cohesion. As it reared back its neck to skewer me with its beak, I yelled at the unfairness of it - and then my avenging angel arrived. Lyle came in charging, his shield slamming its head into the ground, and followed up with a large, armored boot stomping down on the giant beak, trapping it with a surprised squawk. Never had I been so happy to see him. His side was burned and blistered from a spell, but his mace rose and fell with the power of righteous fury behind it.
The pained keening died out in moments, and as it did, another cry rose from the island above us. "Dieeee!"
Lyle unceremoniously grabbed my arm and dragged me over the ground. I did not complain. First off, I was still too unsteady to stand up by myself, and second, my reclined position gave me the perfect view of the spell that landed right beside us, turning the ground into a bubbling, caustic mess.
My knight in shining armor was forced to drop me once more as he turned to take another spell straight on his shield. Still, as we made it back behind the treeline, I'd regai
ned my equilibrium well enough to move by myself. I unceremoniously downed my last healing potion and slumped back against a tree to breathe. "How are you, Lyle?" My hands kept themselves busy, activating first one, then a second automaton. Any backup was good backup right now.
"Hanging in there." He bellowed out into the darkness. "THE SKY IS YOURS, TIRANE!"
A furious whistle and a war cry was the only response as our air support took to the skies again. I risked a glance at the tableau and saw that things looked like they were, at last, going our way. Our archers had finally taken care of all ranged attackers up above, and they were assisting Darya in keeping the sorceress occupied. With three archers constantly firing at her, she had gone defensive, maintaining a fire shield that combusted any arrow that came near. Claire was showing her skills as a leader, guiding them to shoot in turns, keeping up constant pressure on the fiery broad. It was only a matter of time before Sareena ran out of mana. Further over on the island, Othell was also forced into defensive mode as the harpies started harassing him with constant arrows from up high. It didn't look like it was doing him much good, however.
Our close combat group was doing all right, too. The enemy still held superior numbers, but things had changed up. Their warriors had gathered in one large group, and in response, my group had also joined in. From the looks of it, they were doing an amazing job at distracting the enemy and keeping them from running us over. Even as I watched, Naevys shouted a warning, and our warriors gave way, opening the path for the Razor-tailed Vipers to slither out, covering the ground with a blanket of moving razors. One enemy warrior was stuck to Jeb's summon, flailing in panic before the carpet of vipers fell over him. The rest of the warriors fell back, panicking and flailing at the broiling mass of snakes. With the harpies taking the occasional potshot from above, and Lyle and myself joining the fray, we should be able to turn the tide and send them running.
