Crimson Sands

by J. Arthur Klein

  “Quick! Hit it while it’s vulnerable,” I yelled and thrust my spear towards the thing as hard as I could.

  The bronze spearhead bit into the creature's flesh but failed to penetrate as deeply as I expected.

  Kjara and Amenhotep moved in as well and slashed at it with their blades with similar results.

  With a scream of rage and pain, the creature exploded to its feet, emitting a wave of force that knocked us all backwards and sent us crashing through the other workbenches.

  I checked our party stats and saw that the damage was superficial, but we had lost our advantage on whatever the hell those guys had raised.

  Now that it was upright and fully animated I could finally make it out in its full, terrifying glory.

  *** Fleshforged Abomination, Level 12 (Boss) ***

  *** HP: 98%, SP: 100% ***

  Standing close to eight feet tall, the creature was an amalgamation of nightmares. Someone had cut apart and sewn together multiple bodies to create a killing machine.

  Its torso was ripped with muscle like a large krek, but with the armored plates of an adult bedjvain grafted on top.

  Its arms were coated in long mangy fur that ended in tridactyl hands with wickedly hooked claws, and its legs looked similar to a trog's, but with mismatched feet.

  For the pièce de résistance, the creature’s head was that of a giant crocodile. A giant crocodile with glowing green eyes.

  I rolled to my feet and raised my shield, expecting a follow up attack that never came.

  Instead, the creature seemed to be searching for something, its crocodilian maw forming into something akin to a grin as it found what it was seeking.

  Out of the ruins of the workbench on which it had been born, it drew a large metal gauntlet and slid it onto its left hand.

  I headed towards Amenhotep’s position, anxious to get back into some semblance of a formation so we could effectively fight the brutish boss monster.

  Kjara must have had the same idea as she arrived soon after.

  Wanting every advantage possible, I drew deep on my game memory banks and recited a blessing, “Lord Anpu, Lord of the Underworld, Liberator of the Restless Dead, I ask for your blessing as we cleanse this city of this undead abomination!”

  I willed some divine favor into it as well and felt it flow from in from that secondary pool and through me into the blessing.

  A small wave of light pulsed outwards and settled into over us.

  *** You have invoked the Greater Blessing of Anpu, God of the Underworld on your allies! ***

  *** Greater Blessing of Anpu: bonus to accuracy and damage against undead. Resistance to necromantic magic, fear, poison, and disease. Increased in-combat health, stamina, and mana regeneration. Duration: 2 hours. ***

  ***Divine Favor expended: 20 .

  Twenty divine favor was quite a hit but I hoped the buff would help us deal with this nightmare fuel.

  We formed up and faced the abomination, who was now stalking towards us, its eyes glowing brightly as it flexed its metallic gauntlet in anticipation.

  “Well,” I whispered to Kjara. “I did promise you some undead to kill. And when I make a promise, I deliver.”

  She snorted and laughed, and then it was on.

  Amenhotep grabbed the monster’s attention with his shockwave skill while Kjara and I went to work on its flanks.

  Its gauntlet served double duty as a bludgeon and a shield, deflecting Amenhotep’s khopesh and my spear with a few quick movements. Kjara was able to do some damage on its other side, but the thick boney plates were highly resistant to her slashing weapons.

  A mighty backhand from the abomination’s gauntlet pressed Amenhotep back a step, doing some damage even through the massive tower shield.

  The guardian recovered from the blow and stepped forward, slashing at the abomination with his khopesh. Amenhotep’s attack was beaten aside with the creature’s massive gauntlet while it’s second hand grasped the edge of his shield and pulled it to the side.

  Taking advantage of the small gap in defense it had created, the abomination lunged forward and bit down hard on the legionnaire’s shoulder.

  The guardian’s health bar dropped slightly in the party interface as he bashed at the abomination’s head with the pommel of his weapon in an attempt to free himself, but only seemed to piss the creature off.

  I activated Precision Strike and stabbed my spear between two glowing plates on the abomination’s side, knocking off a small chunk of its hit points.

  I barely got my shield up in time to block a backhanded blow from the abomination’s gauntlet and was forced to take several steps backwards to regain my balance.

  Its health dipped again and I caught a glimpse of Kjara on the other side of the creature raining blows onto its less armored back, but she too had to retreat to avoid its counterattack.

  The creature’s jaw clenched and its eyes began to glow brighter.

  In my mind Amenhotep started to scream as a stream of golden light began to flow out the wounds inflicted by the abomination’s teeth. The undead drew in a deep breath, inhaling the guardians essence.

  Amenhotep’s health and stamina bars dropped to almost nothing and then, with a casual flick of its neck, the undead monstrosity tossed his stunned form into the corner.

  I quickly cast Cure Wounds on the legionnaire and positioned myself between my fallen companion and the Fleshforged creature.

  The monstrosity’s eyes were blazing and it seemed to be experiencing some type of high after drinking in so much pure essence from the spectral legionnaire.

  Taking advantage of its stupor, Kjara and I struck back, doing some damage but more importantly cutting away some of the armored plating on its flanks.

  Before it could retaliate, I stepped back out of range and cast more healing upon the legionnaire, bringing him back out of the red.

  *** Congratulations! You have gained a better understanding of the Cure Wounds spell! Rank 5 Achieved! ***

  This was one of those times where I was glad I’d banked a few skill points. My party was in dire need of healing, and so… BAM! I dropped two of my banked skill points into Cure Wounds.

  *** You spend 1 skill point and raise your Cure Wounds spell to 6! ***

  *** You spend 1 skill point and raise your Cure Wounds spell to 7! ***

  I quickly cast another Cure Wounds, dropping my mana to less than half but bringing Amenhotep back into the green.

  In the meantime, Kjara had gotten the undead’s attention with her blows and was currently dodging like a madwoman. “A little help here!” she yelled.

  Amenhotep charged in, shield lowered as he slammed into the abomination’s flank, sending it crashing into the wall and stunning it briefly.

  Taking advantage, I charged in and used Precision Strike again and drove my spear even deeper into the holes we had created in its plating with our earlier attacks.

  Critical Hit! A rush of energy filled me and I immediately channeled it into another Cure Wounds spell, this time targeting Kjara to heal the wounds she had received in her earlier dance battle with the abomination.

  On its other flank, Kjara’s swords chopped away at the remains of its boney armor and then cut into the rotting meat below, dropping its health below fifty percent.

  The abomination reared up and let out a deafening roar accompanied by a wave of energy that forced us back.

  The abomination opened its toothy maw and exhaled a cloud of glowing green energy into the air.

  The energy filled the room and seeped into the piles of the dead filling the tables.

  Screaming ghostly forms appeared over the affected corpses, bound to their former flesh by the abomination’s ability.

  The corpses shifted and rose as the magic continued its work, binding torsos to limbs with no regard to their original owners.

  The abomination stood back as its health began to regenerate slowly, awaiting the completion of its summoning.

  Amenhotep began to advanc
e but I held him back and called to Kjara, “Stay back! I’ll take care of the adds.”

  I cast Flamestrike and launched the flaming javelin into the center of the still gathering hoard. The spell detonated, destroying the majority of the lesser undead and sending small wisps of green back towards the abomination.

  Some of the undead avoided the conflagration, but for some reason weren’t heading towards us. Instead, the adds shambled towards the abomination.

  I was a little confused but things were quickly cleared up when one of the shambling corpses reached the crocodile headed monster.

  It lashed out and bit the zombie in half, devouring the thing in several bites and regenerating its health by a full five percent. There were enough zombies to heal the thing to full if we didn’t act fast.

  “Quick! Kill them before he can eat the rest,” Kjara yelled, and we charged in. I launched another Flamestrike at the abomination itself who was the focal point of the zombie mosh pit. The javelin missed the abomination but struck one of the zombies and exploded destroying the closest healing sources and even setting some on fire.

  The abomination reeled back and snarled in rage, the smell of burnt fur momentarily overpowering the other nasty smells in the area.

  Kjara danced through the zombies, lopping off heads and piercing hearts with each swing, destroying the glorified healing potions with ease.

  Amenhotep used shockwave again, knocking down the remaining zombies and regaining the attention of the boss.

  The Fleshforged Abomination managed to devour two of the lesser zombies before we cut off its supply and healed itself by ten percent, but it could have been a lot worse.

  I wondered if the boss would try another round of zombie bites when its health dropped again, but wasn’t sure how much more use it would be since the mostly intact corpses were pretty much used up in the first batch.

  My mana was running very low, so I drank one of my moderate rejuvenation potions, preparing for the worst.

  Kjara and I finished off the zombies while Amenhotep bore the brunt of the now enraged abomination.

  Once its healing source was gone the abomination fell back into its normal combat patterns, and so did we.

  Our blows were more damaging now that most of its plates had been knocked off, so our concerted efforts brought it back down below half after a few passes.

  Amenhotep was still weak from the creature's bite attack, something the healing hadn’t been able to cure, and the creature's blows were taking their toll on him. He was focused solely on defense, on guard against another bite attack.

  The next time it tried that tactic the legionnaire was ready, timing his parry of the gauntlet such that his blade was ready to strike when the abomination attacked with its maw.

  The sharpened blade of the khopesh sliced through the beast’s lower jaw, sending it flying to the side.

  The boss flinched backwards, congealed blood like black pudding leaking out of the creature’s face as it lashed out wildly, forcing us backwards.

  I shifted my spear into its longer form and continued to attack from beyond its reach, using Precision Strike in an attempt to strike at the thing’s now wounded face.

  The beast knocked away my first attempt with its gauntleted fist, but my second attempt struck home.

  The sharp point of my spear sunk into the burbling wound and dropped the creature’s health down to a quarter.

  Kjara came into view as she leapt onto the abomination’s back in an attempt to decapitate it, but a last minute shift by the undead beast caused her blades to miss their target. So instead of taking off its head, she gave the thing a nose job, removing the first six inches of its snout.

  In a rage, the abomination twisted and slashed upwards, the sudden loss of her perch catching the moon elf off guard. As she tumbled through the air, attempting to recover, the Fleshforged's claws raked up her thigh and deep into her hip.

  She cried out as she crashed to the ground a few feet away, blood gushing from the wound.

  Her health bar was flashing deep red in the party window and continued to drop as her blood poured out onto the floor.

  The abomination raised its gauntlet and stepped towards the vulnerable elf, ignoring the rest of us as he focused on vengeance against the elf.

  I dashed in and knocked its attack off target. The force of the blow caused my entire arm to go numb and fall useless to my side.

  *** Congratulations! You have become more skilled with your Shield and have reached Rank 6! ***

  Amenhotep slashed at the undead creature's hamstrings, cutting through the scaley muscles and regaining its attention, giving me a few seconds to heal Kjara and stop her bleeding.

  I cast Soothing Touch and let the magic flow into her while she drank a healing potion, the combination of the two halting her bleeding and pulling her health back over fifty percent.

  The emergency over, we went back on the offensive.

  The abomination’s health was nearing ten percent, so we were in the final stretch.

  Kjara focused on disabling its unarmored arm, cutting away large chunks of rotting burnt fur whenever it raised its hand to strike at Amenhotep.

  I used my spear to prod at its flanks, sinking the bronze tip into any opening that presented itself.

  Amenhotep focused his efforts on maintaining aggro, and after a few seconds we brought its health under the ten percent threshold… and things went crazy.

  Green light began to seep out of the thing’s wounds and at the seams where its component parts had been stitched together. Driven into overdrive, the creature began moving faster and faster as the energy seeped into its muscles.

  A blow from its gauntleted fist knocked Amenhotep down to half health and sent him staggering.

  It turned on me next and I was barely able to defend against its blows with a mixture of blocks and dodges, mostly due to the head start I had due to the range at which I was fighting the creature.

  Kjara’s blades finally landed a critical blow on the abomination’s fur clad limb and it dropped to the ground, the severed limb and stump both oozing necromantic energy into the air.

  The undead creature whipped around faster than she could react, it’s gauntleted fist smashing into her shins as her desperate attempt to leap over the blow came up short.

  She flipped through the air and slammed onto her back a short distance away, a stunned icon appearing next to her diminished health bar.

  I slammed into the undead thing from behind and smashed the edge of my shield into the back of its knee, collapsing the limb and causing the abomination to stumble forward and catch itself with its remaining hand.

  Smiling and raising my spear to capitalize on its vulnerable state, I was taken completely by surprise when its clawed foot caught me right in the face and knocked me backwards with stars dancing in my vision.

  From my new position on my back, I saw Amenhotep regain his feet and begin to glow softly.

  ***Amenhotep has invoked Spirit of Vengeance! ***

  The legionnaire charged in to meet the abomination as it pushed itself upright. His khopesh was glowing with holy light as he cut into the undead monstrosity, but his hit points were draining as well.

  I cast Cure Wounds on the guardian, but nothing happened, and his health continued to drop as his glowing blade cut giant rents in the abomination's flesh.

  Catching my breath, I stumbled to my feet and began casting Cure Wounds targeting Kjara. She was bathed in a soft golden glow as the spell went off without a hitch.

  *** Congratulations! You have become more skilled with Endurance and have reached Rank 4! ***

  *** Congratulations! You have become more skilled with Combat Caster and have reached Rank 7! ***

  Kjara regained her feet and together with Amenhotep we brought the beast down to five percent, then three percent.

  At that point Amenhotep’s health reached 0 and he dissolved into a whirlwind of sand.

  Without the guardian to maintain the boss’
s aggro, the beast turned on Kjara.

  She dodged a massive blow of its gauntleted fist, her own sword scoring a gash across the boss’s remaining bicep.

  I willed my spear back into its shorter length and lunged forward, using Precision Strike to land a critical hit on the abomination’s flank.

  The blow triggered another serge of energy that I used to send another burst of healing to Kjara.

  *** Congratulations! You have become more skilled with Precision Strike and have reached Rank 3! ***

  I twisted the spear and ripped it free, dropping the beast to one percent. The next thing I knew I was flying across the room, my stomach awash in agony where the edge of the abomination’s gauntlet had ripped it open during the creature's counterattack.

  I started to stand but was suddenly filled with panic and fear as my mind flashed back to the convention.

  I was laying on the ground in agony, my blood pooling around me and I couldn’t move. Where was Kimiko? Why did I grab the gun! Oh, gods I’ve been shot I’m going to die. Mom, I’m sorry! I love you! Oh gods, I don’t want to die. Waves and waves of panic and fear crashed through me and I curled myself into a ball and wept as I bled.

  I didn’t even notice when Kjara finished off the boss and the notifications rolled by.

  Kimiko knelt over me, pressing her jacket to my wounds. But it wasn’t her, it was Kjara, an elf, applying bandages. My mind couldn’t differentiate, and my panic continued.

  “Kheph! It’s okay… you’re okay," she said, bandaging my wounds/pressing… something… to my stomach.

  Once my bleeding stopped, she reached down and wrapped me in her arms, cradling me like a child there on the filthy sewer floor.

  I wept into her shoulder, letting out all the fear and pain that I had bottled up since the attack while she stroked my hair and occasionally kissed the top of my head.

  Eventually the pain faded and my mind was able to break free of the panic. I dried my eyes and looked up at Kjara who was watching me with tears in her own eyes.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t know what happened. One second I was fine, fighting that thing and then it was like I was back on the floor of the con.”