by Lars M.
A massive roar put an end to that notion. "Oh no." I could feel my hopes slipping as my gaze was drawn upwards to find the unmistakable figure of Lord Tergeth, head thrown back as he roared toward the night sky. Shaking, I pulled up the notification. Since the last time, I'd gained a "Mild Concussion" debuff, taking another hit to my concentration, and now a "Fear" effect for a -2 to any action against Lord Tergeth.
Lyle looked shaken. "He's not going to... oh, Pits."
There was little mistaking what he meant. Lord Tergeth braced himself and simply jumped, flinging himself out into the open air. The impact of his landing blasted dirt to all sides, and he went down on one knee to support himself. Then he straightened, and even in the dark, at a distance, I could feel the murderous intent in his eyes. He had donned a bone-colored helmet, as well as his spiked gloves, but apart from that, he remained unarmored.
Lyle gulped. "We're not going to..."
Grim-faced, I answered. "Of course we are. We don't need to win, though. Just hold him back until the others can help us."
"I knew you'd say that. Sometimes I hate my job." Still, even with those words, he hoisted his shield and mace and confronted our enemy without any further hesitation.
Lord Tergeth's icon had changed to orange now that I wasn't facing him alone - still, orange threats had been the ones closest to killing me. I dispelled the thoughts from my mind and followed Lyle. His health bar suddenly increased slightly in size; must be that feat he activated when facing overwhelming odds.
My smile was not quite a grimace as my voice rang out across the clearing, "My offer is still open. We can talk about this."
He didn't respond, only snarled as he sped up, running toward us at ever-increasing speed. I waited patiently until he was within my range and braced my violin, causing a Stun Blast to slam into being with Lord Tergeth at the very center. I had a follow-up prepared and was ready to cause some damage with a Stream of Songs, except the monstrous catfolk didn't react like I’d expected. He abandoned his run mid-stride and performed a sideways dodge roll that brought him out of the cone of the spell. I was left to stare gaping at him. How could we compete with that? I refocused and sent a hasty Sonic Wave toward the catfolk. This time, he didn't dodge, but merely took the hit and sprinted towards us.
Lyle stepped in front of me and braced for the impact. His mace traced a perfect half-circle, moving straight for where Lord Tergeth would be. Almost dismissively, the hulking beast slapped it to the ground with a glove, forcing the mace down even as he lowered his shoulder, slamming full force into Lyle. Even with the shield in place and his feet set, the massive weight of the catfolk flung Lyle back, and he was forced to scramble to keep upright. My two voodoo dolls converged on Lord Tergeth from either side, attacking simultaneously - and died. The blows were almost too fast to see, but neither of them managed to get a single stroke in.
Seeing that he was distracted, I took the opportunity to throw one of my cursed bombs at him. My aim was off, but this once, luck was with me as the brute decided to bat away the missile with his glove. I grinned in satisfaction, knowing that the cursed effect was taking hold. Lyle moved in again, and I summoned a Sonic Push against Lord Tergeth. This time, however, I didn't use the massive, broad push I'd always used, but rather a tight, precise force, pushing his arm as he struck. Overbalanced, he swung farther than he had intended. He regained his balance in an instant and struck again with a massive backhand, pushing Lyle back, but not before my brawny protector had managed to tag him with the half-moon-shaped end of his mace.
Lord Tergeth huffed dismissively before freezing and staring down at the tiny scratch on his furry chest. "Poison?" he rumbled. He cocked his head, looking at the two of us. He then made a huffing sound and took several deep breaths, noise increasing with each inhalation.
I cautioned Lyle, "Step back, man - it looks like-"
I didn't get any further. The catfolk was hyperventilating now, each breath coming quicker and harder. As the final breath left him with a coughing sound, a glow filled him, illuminating him from within before dissipating. When he stepped toward us again, his breath came faster and his veins stood out against his fur.
"...like he's just cast some dark magic on himself?" Lyle continued, backing up.
"Yeeeah. Please avoid getting hit."
I tried a Sleep spell while the buffed-up catfolk was still approaching, to no avail. Of course. He merely growled and shook his head, increasing in speed. Damn. Stepping to the side so there was no imminent danger of hitting Lyle, I cast Stream of Songs, trying to cause some sort of damage. He wasn't having any of it, however. He feinted to one side and sprang to the other before sprinting at an angle to me, putting Lyle right between us. Somehow, I managed to burn 10% of my mana without managing more than a glancing hit.
Lord Tergeth, however, had no trouble hitting what he was aiming for. With a smooth motion, his left hand guided Lyle's horizontal mace swing past himself and he stepped in close, punching Lyle in the side with quick, dirty jabs, one, two, three times. Lyle stumbled back and his desperate mace swing to keep Lord Tergeth at bay resulted in his shoulder being tagged with another jab. I could see that Lyle's side had taken damage, even through his new armor. I risked a glance around. Our other warriors were still locked in a stalemate. They'd downed a few enemies, but one of the kobolds was down and out, and Kiff was flagging with an injured arm. As I watched, Arack hit Kiff’s attacker with a knockback bomb, granting him a brief reprieve. It did, however, seem like the harpies had joined in, and I noticed a stunned enemy fall to the ground, sprouting an arrow seemingly out of nowhere.
Our archers were still held up. Somehow, Sareena had escaped her defensive posture and was currently sprinting along the edge of the island, exchanging fiery pot shots with the archers near the tree line. I turned back, accepting the inevitable. somehow, we would have to manage for ourselves.
In the few seconds I had been looking away, the situation with Lyle had gone from bad to worse. My trusty meat shield was lying on his back, bleeding from a nasty hit on his forehead. Lord Tergeth was stalking in, glancing at me to see what I would do. I froze. Any spell I could cast, he would laughingly evade, and then Lyle would be at his mercy. The agile catfolk closed in on Lyle, who was regaining his senses, scrabbling backwards with his shield braced before him in a desperate attempt to stave off the villain. At the last possible moment, I yelled, "Lyle. Shield Kick!"
To his credit, Lyle acted right away. No hesitation, he just slid the shield downwards with both hands and kicked it upwards with all his might. Lord Tergeth jumped back, surprised at the slab of steel that flew by his nose, missing by a hairsbreadth. While the shield missed, however, my ensuing Stun Blast did not. I sent it ranging in a wide cone at the height of the catfolk’s midsection, and the moment the shield dropped, it was right there in his face. Of course, he wasn't completely stunned. No, that would've been too easy. Instead, like other resilient enemies, he managed to power through the effect and try to pummel Lyle again.
As luck would have it, his twitching, semi-controlled movements were easy enough for Lyle to avoid. He rolled back to rest on one knee, and the ensuing Shield Bash, though weakened by his awkward position, hit the catfolk straight in the face. This time, he did drop - like a felled tree. We took full advantage of the break in the onslaught. "Poison him! Now!" I yelled and ran closer while I fished out every single bomb I had and tossed them at him indiscriminately. Movement speed, minus to hit, damage over time - I had no time to check on the different descriptions, just hurled them at him. I missed at least one throw from the rush and the lingering Fear debuff, but most of them impacted his downed form. Meanwhile, Lyle was thwacking away, alternating between solid, two-handed smacks of the mace, and quick slices with the half-moon-shaped mace head to deliver poison to his system.
We were not prepared for his next move, however. He did not move, evade, or strike. He simply curled into a ball and then stretched in one painful, jagged motion. As he did, a pr
imal force gusted from his mouth in a ragged scream. I was in the middle of aiming a focused Sonic Missile straight at his eye - and the next thing I saw was the ground rushing up to meet me.
I could not move. Some sort of stun, must be. Inside, my mind was raging, trapped inside a prone, unmoving body. I felt something, however. Reaching out, I felt Atlas' presence at the very edge of my mental reach. He was stalking about on the edges of the warrior group, looking for openings. I could taste the blood in his mouth, proving that he had already been in close combat. "Atlas! Help! Attack!" I looked along with him, as his vision snapped out to see my presence and Lyle's at the other end of the clearing. He started running.
Lord Tergeth was back on his feet. He was not looking good, however. His face was contorted in a pained grimace and he was panting, taking long, ragged gulps of air. Lyle's situation was even worse, however. He had resisted the stunning shout, somehow, though his jerky movements indicated that he wasn't unaffected. Somewhere, he'd lost his mace too, and he was giving ground freely, stumbling back with only his shield to protect himself. The hulking feline had given up toying with us and was hounding Lyle, pounding him ceaselessly at any opportunity. Blows rang upon his shield, shoulders, and helmet.
I could only watch as Atlas ran like he had never done before. Meanwhile, I made every effort to do something with my own body, anything, to no avail. Inside my mind, I cried out, as Lord Tergeth managed to grab on to Lyle's shield and attempted to tear it from his grip. Instead, since it was bound to Lyle's arm, he was flung several meters along the ground, rolling over and over. He did not back down, however. The moment his roll slowed, he got to his feet and activated Charge, sprinting straight for the giant to ram into his stomach, shoulder-first. Unfortunately, Lyle had miscalculated. The catfolk did not try to defend himself from the attack. Rather, he braced his feet and flung out both hands as Lyle closed, robbing most of the momentum from his attack. Still, it hurt the catfolk, and he clearly lost his breath as Lyle rammed straight into him. It just wasn't enough. The arms of the hulking beast enfolded Lyle's form and he slowly bore him to his knees. Lyle didn't submit, though. He struggled every moment, trying to fight back, to hold Lord Tergeth back - but he was simply too strong. In moments, Lyle was forced to his knees and then to his back, as the massive beast continued to push. With a grimace of triumph, Lord Tergeth flung back his other hand, preparing to punch Lyle into oblivion.
At that precise moment, Atlas made it into spitting distance, and he instantly released a poisoned wad. I watched it fly, mentally screaming as it looked like it was going to miss - but it dropped over the distance and ended up spattering across Lord Tergeth's neck. The grunt as he was struck was nothing special. The effect on Lyle, however, was. As the poison sapped away the catfolk's strength, the downed human, who had been struggling with all his might to rise, managed to push his opponent back. Lyle rose to his knees and immediately used his upward momentum to jump helmet-first straight forward, like a spring under tension, barreling into the throat of the hunched-over catfolk.
As I felt my strength slowly returning, I struggled to return to the fight, but soon realized that it was unnecessary. Atlas had finally made it right next to the grappling pair, and had his teeth clamped over Lord Tergen's arm, using his saliva to further immobilize the giant. Lyle pounded away with the only weapon he had available - his shield. As I was finally able to fight my way to my feet, Lord Tergeth's large form bent to his knees and the poison and damage over time debuffs did their job, siphoning away the rest of his health.
He screamed then, with a sound of both pain and fury. ”You will not slay the truth. We-” His eyes rolled up in his head as he finally collapsed, dead.
I stared at him, blinking. I just wanted to sleep for a week - but somehow managed to get moving. "Come on, Lyle. Let's finish this."
He grunted in pain and we limped to offer assistance to the rest of our party. As we started out, however, Darya's triumphant cry echoed over the clearing, and the light winked out, along with its creator. Now, I would like to take all the credit for the victory, but Sareena's death was likely the straw that broke the camel's back. Everybody lost their night vision as the spell faded away, and a quick-thinking Naevys saw fit to make the most of the situation, sending the surviving vipers into the midst of the warrior group, biting, carving into flesh, and spreading panic. From the sound of arrows and pain-filled cries, our ranged group was making the most of the night-vision bombs. We slowly made our way over to our people, but when we arrived, the remaining enemies were either downed or sprinting for the woods in panic.
Chapter 39 – Cleanup
We lost two people. One of the kobolds had taken a spear to the gut and bled out, while the half-orc, Hagren, had been hit with a stray arrow in the neck, finishing him outright. I felt a pang of guilty conscience as I realized I'd never even learned any of the kobolds’ names. Three of the vipers had been killed as well, and Naevys was busy fussing over the remainder of the clutch, tending to their hurts.
Tirane touched down for a brief moment, only to inform us that they'd taken down Othell. He had tried battling them, but his spells did not have the range to hit them. As soon as the timer on his darkness spell had run out, the harpies were able to spot him and had managed to fill him with arrows as he ran for the entrance of the castle.
My notification attested to the same, and I breathed a sigh of relief in the knowledge that he wasn't out there to make life difficult for me anymore.
Improved standing with Serune:
After letting things stew for a while, you resolved your grudge with Othell Belaris in the hard, old-fashioned way - blood. Even though it is not Serune's favorite solution, it is effective - and final.
Reward: 500 clergy points. Points to next rank 1400/2000
The harpies had moved on with a promise to return the following day. Tirane confirmed, "The difficult part is over. Hunting down stragglers in the woods? That's what we do."
The rest of us gathered in the middle of the battlefield. Claire orbited on the edge of the group, screening the edge of the island every other moment in case any survivors attempted to ambush us. Before I could say anything, however, Lyle's father dragged Lyle aside.
"I saw ya."
"What, Da?" Lyle's face was still liberally sprinkled with blood, and he kept his composure guarded.
"The way y' stood up t' that giant. Y' almost died." His face was inscrutable but his hand rested on Lyle's shoulder.
"I know. But I've been taught to stand up to villains, and I think that's more important than the danger."
The burly weaponsmith made a sound gave a half laugh, half grunt. "Must've been mum taught y' that. Still. You've grown, kid." As he pulled his kid into an embrace, he rumbled another couple of words. They might have said any number of things, but I wanted to think they were "Proud of you."
The pop-up supported my version, and I barely managed to keep from screaming in relief. We'd finally gotten through to him – and the pop-up promised good times.
Congratulations. You have completed the quest:
Good Luck, Sonny
Lawrence Brenathan has finally accepted his son’s decision to become a knight. He is proud of the man Lyle has become. Talk to him to arrange the reward.
"Now what?" Jebediah was thankfully unharmed. From what Arack said, he'd done well for himself during the battle, keeping far in the back while handling his summoned pet deftly and using his spells whenever he saw an opening.
"You really have to ask, kid?" The sharp teeth of Morak were bared in a huge grin. "To the victor goes the spoils. We're the victors...meaning?"
" 'm not dumb. Who gets what, then?"
"That's actually a very good question." I interrupted. "But given that everybody here has risked their life today, I have a proposal. Let's spend what time is needed to gather everything here and divide it, make sure that nobody's cheated. Alchemist items are divided between Alchemists, smithing materials between smiths, and so forth."
Morak spat. "Sure, yeah. Funny, you didn't mention anything about what's up there, though." He pointed at the floating island.
"Oh, the same would apply to whatever's up there. If we find massive stockpiles of food, general items, and such, they should probably go to Grant's Crossing and the families of our deceased. Any objection?" Nobody argued, and soon we were all engrossed in the dirty work of pillaging everything we could from our downed enemies. I reverently placed a handful of Tinkerer items from the Dark-infested Giant Eagle into the pile, hoping I was the only Tinkerer among the bunch. The pile steadily grew as we descended upon the fallen enemies like ants on a carcass.
Overall, the spoils were good. The general quality of their items was pretty high, which meant whoever this "Order" was, they had been outfitted well. Every enemy soldier had at least one minor magic item, too, boosting stats or skills by +1.
In the end, we decided to share the items immediately. Nobody wanted to leave everything out in the open while we went exploring the island. Naevys bowed out right away. One of the vipers had been badly hurt, and she wanted to do her best to ensure there were no lingering effects. Also, according to her, she just didn't care for loot. Atlas kept her company - he seemed a bit curious regarding the vipers - or maybe he just wanted scratches. Lyle's dad took a handful of minor items for selling, but then he opted out, too. He mumbled something about 'terrible smithing,' but really, I figured he just didn't want to appear greedy in front of Lyle.
Soon, we found ourselves haggling over the distribution of loot. We first created a pile of the items that nobody was going to use. Depending on which magical items we ended up with, we could each add items from that pile to ensure that nobody was completely cheated. Additionally, each member of the Order had carried a necklace with a simple symbol, depicting the form of Aeion riddled with cracks. We all decided to keep one, grinning and joking at how kind it was of the enemy to provide us with battle trophies.
