Khulan cast her spell, targeting a point several feet above Quan’s approximate location. Wispy motes of dust appeared in the air, dancing like moths and trailing tiny white spores behind them. They gently drifted down upon Quan, who was busy disarming Carl’s teleportation traps. He didn’t appear to notice as he inhaled the insidious spores.
The spell, Accelerate Ailments, was subtle yet deadly. There was no notification when one inhaled the spores. The only indication would be hidden in the individual health menu under each Debuff tab. There, the debuffs would be labeled as Accelerated, and the effect was dependent on the debuff. If there was no active debuff, the spell would have no effect.
The spell actually shortened the debuff’s time, so conditions like paralysis and unconsciousness would run out faster. But for debuffs with damage over time, like burns or poison, it would shorten the time between damage ticks, rapidly accelerating the damage onset. For poison, this didn’t increase the total damage as it also shortened the time the poison was in effect. This made the spell most effective against debuffs that didn’t naturally heal, like burns, which required a potion or salve to cure. Or, in Quan’s case, if the debuff was a disease that couldn’t be cured without specialized healing.
Quan wouldn’t be notified that Khulan had just accelerated his slug pox, but he would soon notice the effects. Only Chuluuna could see Quan while he was invisible, and relayed any relevant information to us. I relied on my heightened sense of hearing to track Quan, listening for any changes in his actions
Pop.
A high-pitched scream pierced the night air, followed by the sound of a small, desperate struggle. Quan was forced to stop disarming the trap to deal with the pox slug that had spawn from his body. Less than thirty seconds later, the next slug emerged.
Pop.
This time, the slug's scream was followed by the distinct twang of a projectile weapon being fired. I couldn’t see what he used, but from the chatter on the message boards, I knew Quan’s class, Sergeant at Arms, allowed him to wield almost any weapon without penalties. He had countless weapons in his inventory, stolen from the crawlers he had killed. It sounded like a light crossbow, but the exact weapon he used didn’t matter. What mattered was that he was struggling, and his condition was worsening.
My ears perked up as another slug popped, followed by cursing and the sound of another bolt being fired. I felt a grim satisfaction as I listened to Quan suffer. His frustration was palpable. He managed to disarm the teleport trap before the next pox slug spawned, which he quickly dispatched. But he’d likely realized that something had changed with his condition.
Before, the slugs spawned every few minutes, each new slug would be one level higher than the last, buying Quan a couple hours before the level of the pox slugs surpassed his player level and killed him. But now they were emerging every twenty to thirty seconds, giving him barely half an hour. He was going to have difficulty sneaking into the building at this rate, with the slug regularly erupting from his body. Time was not on Quan’s side and each new slug would take a greater chunk of his health when it spawn.
What will you do now you little prick? I thought, as I waited for him to enter the building.
A red bolt of energy shot from Quan’s general location, striking the trap module hidden in the entrance vestibule. The bolt expanded outward in a bubble, causing the trap and several small items within the area of effect to glow with a red hue.
"Damn", I cursed under my breath. I was hoping he wouldn't see the traps.
Quan had two signature class spells: a destructive blue bolt fired from his now-missing left hand and a red bolt from his right. Mordecai had identified the red spell as Stasis, the sister spell of Disruptor. While the blue Disruptor was a type of kinetic strike, Stasis stopped the movement of all objects within its area of effect, about five meters in radius, as long as they were below a certain weight and weren't a liquid. It wouldn't affect the teleport traps, which were activated by contact rather than a mechanical trigger, nor would it stop proximity traps like the Willie Petes from going off, but it would prevent the incendiary fragments from spreading.
Quan passed under the incendiary trap, and instead of being covered in white-hot phosphorus, the flare was contained within the modules, becoming the brightest damn lightbulbs in existence. Blinding light poured into the main hall through the doorway. The room became a colorless picture set to maximum contrast—white where the light touched, everything else hidden in black.
Quan was still invisible, but I could see the protection spells shimmer in the light of the flare, outlining him as he crept into the building. Nothing stood between him and the stairwell—nothing that he could see.
He hesitated, likely aware that there were more traps. His Find Traps skill was higher than my own, but he needed to get closer to the stairwell before he could detect them. Much closer.
Closer. Closer.
When Quan had put enough distance between himself and the entrance, at about where I had mark a Q on the ground, just for him, I inhaled and howled. Unlike the Shade Gnolls bark that sounded like the laugh of a hyena, I was rather proud that my more practiced voice sounded akin to a wolf. It was part of a bardic spell aptly named Terrifying Howl, which afflicted a target with the Terrified debuff, immobilizing them for fifteen seconds. It was a favorite amongst my viewers, and I knew from experience that the acoustics of the main hall would amplify the spell. My howl echoed through the rotunda, turning from one voice into several.
Chuluuna appeared from the darkness then, his hands glowing with electricity. Chuluuna had cast Stoneskin, giving himself the appearance of a muscular Greek sculpture, and he slammed Quan with a Lightning Strike. The spell wouldn’t penetrate Quan’s shields, but it would ring his bell something fierce. Behind him, Khulan cast Cloud of Exhaust, filling the area around Quan with a paralytic fog. Quan’s shields could protect him from damn near anything, but not sounds or inhalants.
I pulled my deck from my inventory and initiated card combat.
Combat Started!
Quan appeared, as the announcement rang out, his invisibility negated by the start of card combat. My howl had indeed immobilized him, but only for a few seconds. He had some resistance to the debuff, and he took the air before Khulan’s spell could affect him. If his dexterity score was over 100, as some of us had suspected, he’d have access to the perk Freedom of Movement, which allowed him to resist any condition that restricted his movement. A perfect skill for someone who liked to run away.
But that was fine. Khulan's spell had cut off Quan’s exit and we now had him where we wanted him. His flight wouldn’t be much use when he was trapped inside a building. Just a bird in a cage.
No, not a cage, I thought. An oven. I aimed Velma up at Quan and let all hell loose.
Velma roared as fire geysered up, smothering Quan. Whatever he shouted was drowned out as he flitted through the air: a moth caught in the flame. Light rippled across Quan’s body as his shields deflected the burning deluge like a spoon under a running faucet. Fire rained down around me and igniting the cloud of volatile fumes, turning it into a fireball. Glass windows were blown out and Quan was sent reeling through the air. The fire passed harmlessly around me, thanks to my class’s Fire Shield, and Chuluuna and Garret were both immune to fire. Khulan, shielded by Chuluuna and far enough back, avoided harm.
Chuluuna’s lightning shook the entire building as it crashed into Quan. Stone tiles fell from the ceiling and shattered across the floor. Khulan cast Night Maiden’s Kiss, blanketing the floor and blocking the entrance with a health draining mist, all in preparation for our next trap.
Pustules burst from Quan’s thigh and back, ejecting cat-sized slugs that caught aflame as they plummeted through the river of fire to the floor below, landing with a wet splat. They were getting more powerful and numerous by the second; these slugs were now level 16 and 17 and took a chunk of Quan’s health when they spawned. The pox slugs, now called Sluggalos, screamed as they burned and rushed for the door. They died a moment later as they entered the mist.
Before Quan could get his bearings, I reached behind me to pull a T’Ghee card hidden in Velma's jacket sleeve. I had received an item called a Card Clip as a quest reward at the beginning of the eighth floor. It allowed me to store one of my T’Ghee cards on my person, so long as it wasn’t a totem, and pull it at any time during card combat. The card I had selected, Prohibition, allowed me to name one card and prohibit its use during a single combat encounter. If the named card appeared in either of our decks, it would be immediately discarded.
Thanks to Carl and Donut’s fight with Quan earlier, I knew which card to name.
“Hey, Quan! You ready for a real fight?” I jeered up at him as I selected Flee.
Quan's true power was in his ability to choose his battles, to strike when it suited him, and run away when the cards were stacked against him. To beat him, I needed to be the one in control.
This was my stage now and there would be no forced fleeing, no running away. It would be a fight to the death.
An icon appeared above my head of a Flee card with the word "Prohibited" stamped over it in big red letters. A look of horror crossed Quan’s face as he received the notification and one of his cards disappeared from his hand.
“Carl was just the fryer. Now you get the fire” I yelled up at Quan as I smothered him with Velma. Whether it was one of my taglines or good old trash talk, I need to keep Quan distracted. I knew he had that Three for Three card, but he’d need a full hand of four cards to use it. It would only be ten seconds before Quan would have enough cards, and I needed to be ready by keeping my hand free of any card I didn’t want used against me.
Chuluuna and I advanced, closing in on Quan. Chuluuna's hands crackled with electricity as he rotated between Lightning Strike and Chain Lightning spells as quickly as the cooldown would let him cast. I chased Quan with Velma, her fire a screaming torrent that relentlessly pursued Quan who flung himself throw the air in a spastic dance.
The bastard was squirrelly. Despite the continual barrage from Velma and Chuluuna, we couldn’t sustain sufficient damage to outpace Quan’s shield regeneration. His Dodge had to be at least level 10, likely higher, which meant that on top of being hard to hit, he also had passive damage deflection. Were it not for the slugs and the environmental damage from the heat and thunder, we’d be doing no damage to Quan.
Garret stood protectively in front of me, giggling with excitement. In my hand were three totems and a Time Extend. Not a bad hand. The first totem was a giant kangaroo rat named Sunchaser. He was useless in a fight, but was fast and had a long summoning duration of ninety seconds. When used in tandem with a Taunt card, he could draw the aggro of enemy totems away from me and my team. Since he wouldn’t pose much of a threat in Quan’s hands, I held on to him..
My two other totems were a different story.
Peek-a-Boo!
The announcement rang out before I had time to play either of the two totems, and a pair of red eyes appeared over my hand. Quan had played a mystic card that temporarily allowed him to see my hand.
Into the trash with you!
Quan’s next card removed one of the totems I was about to play from my hand into the discard. Shit—I cursed myself for not acting faster. Quan had selected the only totem in my hand with a ranged attack, but now he was down to one card. As long as I kept him on the ropes, he wouldn’t be able to swap cards, and if he thought his flight would keep him out of reach of my totems, he was in for a rude awakening.
I summoned my third totem. A holographic forest filled the chamber, echoing with the sound of drum-like footsteps. Bong, bong, bong. Two young girls came running out of the forest only for two hairy clawed hands, impossibly long, to reach out and grab them, pulling them back into the dark forest. There was the sound of screaming, tearing, and bones breaking.
It was a rule of thumb: the more over-the-top the intro animation, the more powerful the totem.
He’ll mimic your kin and wear their skin! Whatever you do, don’t let him in! It’s Mother Mangai!
A large, hairy ghost resembling a troll emerged from the trees as the announcement rang out. The totem was based on a children’s story, one in which a monster, the Mangai, killed and impersonated the mother of three daughters. After eating the youngest daughter, the other two fled, and the Mangai gave chase. He was eventually killed when the daughters tricked him into crossing a deep lake where he drowned. The quest that allowed us to capture the totem had also brought us to a lake, one surrounded by the eviscerated corpses of countless creatures. There, we found the drowned ghost of Mother Mangai in the lake, tethered to the shore by his own entrails.
Mother Mangai was incorporeal, immune to physical damage and Velma’s non-enhanced flame. Without spell, Quan couldn't hurt the totem, and, unless Quan play a totem of his own, the level 85 Mother Mangai would tear through his shield and pull him apart.
Quan drew a new card and played it. The card dissolved, and a sixty second timer appeared over Mother Mangai’s head. It was a Freeze card, but it's time was twice the length as normal. The fact it dissolved meant it was a consumable: a more powerful one-time-use variant. Quan was cashing in his rare cards. I played my Time Extend on Mother Mangai, adding a crucial twenty second to his summoning duration. He’d have just about fifteen seconds to act once he unfroze.
Timing this would be a bitch.
Ren: Khu, hold your next spell, time it to go off when Mangai still has three seconds left on his freeze. Chu, just before that, I need you to blind this bastard. Wait for my signal.
We had a narrow window to make this work. Cards drew every ten seconds to a max of four. If Quan held onto his cards he would have a full hand before Mangai unfroze.
Ren: Velma, take the helm.
Velma: My pleasure.
I felt Velma’s support arm click into place and take over aiming so I could keep a closer eye on Quan’s hand. How she could track Quan so effectively without eyes eluded me. He maneuvered around Chulunna’s lightning and Velma’s fire and I watched as Quan drew and then discarded his next card—ten more seconds. He was shaping his hand, meaning he wasn’t just going to take my hand, but wanted to give me specific cards in its place. He could see my hand and force me to play any card he gave me. But, perhaps he just wanted to give me a crap hand that I couldn’t use against him.
You’re assuming that Quan intended to use Three for Three.
The thought crossed my mind, but I hadn’t time to consider any alternatives. Whatever Quan was planning he’d have about ten seconds to pull it off before our plan was ready. I examined my own hand, as I was about to draw my fourth card. I still had Sunchaser and two utility cards: another Time Extend and Temporary Immortality. I knew I should play Sunchaser and dump the two utility cards on him, emptying my hand, but I wanted Taunt first, and I didn’t want to waste the immortality on a totem that wasn’t likely to get hit anyway.
My fourth card drew and my heart began to race: Basquiat.
It was the most powerful totem in my deck. My trump card. I couldn’t afford to lose it to Quan.
Discarding it was the best option. It was not a card I could play indoors, but I paused.
Then again, I thought, perhaps this is the perfect card for indoors.
We need this to be a spectacle after all.
Ren: Chu, change of plans! Do it now!
Chuluuna cast a blinding ball of lightning into the middle of the chamber, using it as a flash grenade. Quan covered his eyes just as his fourth card drew. Even with enough cards to swap hands, he couldn’t play his card if he couldn’t see.
Time to bring Quan down to earth.
Ren: Khu, now!
I threw out Basquiat as Khulan cast Leaden. The effect was instantaneous. Quan slammed into the ground with a crunch as all flight in the area was negated. He was still blinded by Chuluuna’s Ball Lightning and hadn’t the time to react. Quan lay in a heap on the floor, just outside of Khulan’s mist. His health had taken a hit, and he appeared to be knocked out. Even if he recovered before Mangai unfroze, he wouldn’t be able to reactivate his flight until he regained access to his spells at the end of card combat. He was a sitting duck.
Quack, quack, motherfucker.
The ground shook as holographic sand and rocks fell from the ceiling, simulating a cave-in. Trumpets blasted, fireworks went off, and confetti fell from the ceiling, like the grand reveal at a music concert.
“Garret! Stay on me!” I shouted, keeping Garret from advancing on Quan as a massive creature erupted from the ground between me and Quan, his arrived heralded by a system announcement.
Wiggle, Writhe, and Repeat! It’s the monster you can’t defeat! It’s Basquiat, The Mongolian Death Worm!
Basquiat was based on a popular cryptid believed to stalk the sands of the Gobi Desert, and looked like the Arrakisian Worm from the movie Dune, but smaller. He was as thick as a train car and about three times as long. He could chew through stone and swallow most enemies whole. Were it not for Chuluuna’s Stoneskin and Garret’s near invincibility, they’d have been killed when the worm had eaten them during our trek through the Gobi. Instead, after Tenger captured the worm, the two had emerged covered in dirt and bile. The worm’s saliva had a sulfuric stench that struck me like smelling salts. It took days to wash off the stench off them.
Quan made his move then, rolling over to free his arm, which was bent at an odd angle, and threw out three cards, all totems. Quan threw them towards the wall between the stairwell and Chuluuna’s hallway, in front of the saferoom entrance. They were all regular animals: a pig, a rabbit, and a turtle. They appeared quickly, without any fanfare.
Stolen novel; please report.
I gawked at Quan's totems: they looked like they came straight out of a pet store. They were larger than normal pets, but the strongest of the bunch was the turtle at level 25. I could kill it by just stepping on it.
A cold realization hit. Quan was not going for the Three for Three plan as I had anticipated, but neither was this a desperate ploy. He had been waiting to have all three totems in his hand, and he had intentionally grouped them together. Quan still had one more card, the one he had been holding onto since the start of combat.
Mother Mangai unfroze with less than fifteen seconds left on his summoning. He began to lumber towards Quan’s totems, his feet drumming as he approached. Basquiat had finished his intro sequence and was searching for a target. Without thinking, I used Temporary Immortality on Basquiat, and the worm glowed with a yellow aura as he rose and turned towards the three smaller totems. I was panicking again, just like during the Iron Tangle, just like during the masquerade. Always when it mattered most.
I didn't know what Quan was planning anymore, and that terrified me.
“You’re fucked now!” Chuluuna shouted at Quan, voicing more emotion than I thought possible. He was as eager to see Quan pay as I, but he hadn’t picked up anything wrong. He thought victory was still ours.
Ren: Chu, grab Khulan and fall back. Quan’s about to pull something. Don’t head to the saferoom. Basquiat will reach it before you.
Quan played his final card in his hand, the first card he had drawn. It vanished when activated, a consumable, and I froze. But it wasn’t just me.
The whole world froze.
Even before the announcement rang out, I knew we were fucked.
Toss Up! Three for Two!
The indicators above our totems, highlighting friend and foe, swapped. Quan’s three totems, three regular animals, became mine. Mangai and Basquiat, two of my most powerful totems, were now Quan’s.
“Oh shit!”, I blurted out.
Ren: Chu, Khulan, run! Now!
Basquiat crashed down upon the three animal totems, obliterating them as he burrowed into the ground, leaving a gaping hole in the floor and taking out the saferoom door, eliminating our best means of escape. Quan had placed his totems deliberately to cut off our access.
“Garret, after Quan!” I shouted and lay back into Quan with Velma. No more theatrics, this had to end now. He was crawling towards the exit, unable to walk. He was flanked by two sluggalos that had just spawned. They whooped as they charged Garret, swinging little hatchets attached to their heads.
I moved to put distance between myself and the totems. Only magic could harm Mother Mangai, and, without access to my Elevate Flame spell, Velma wouldn’t be able to damage the incorporeal totem. I had immortalized Basquiat so my only option was to distract them long enough for him to time out. I was on the verge of turning tail and running, but stopped as I felt a familiar haptic buzz. It was my racial skill, Canine Instinct, activating, slowing my perception of time as my senses were temporarily boosted.
The skill triggered whenever an ally was being targeted by a system generated enemy, alerting me so that I could protect them. It was the main reason I became a Dog Soldier.
Bong, bong, bong.
The sound was like thunder in my ears. I turned towards Mother Mangai who had been heading towards Quan’s totems, but Basquiat had just taken them out. Without totems to fight, Mangai had gone after the next nearest targets: Chuluuna and Khulan. I saw that hadn’t been able to flee down their hallway which had collapsed by Basquiat burrowing under that section of the building. I couldn't harm Mangai, and without Taunt, I couldn’t use Sunchaser to draw away the totem’s aggro. I needed another card.
Hurry up and draw, dammit!
Mother Mangai towered over Chuluuna, who moved to protect Khulan, standing between his wife and the approaching monster like a stone guardian. Fire climbed the walls around him as his hands glowed like beacons—a lighthouse in the storm. He only needed a few more seconds to charge his spell. Just a little more time.
A card appeared in my shaking hands: Protective Shell. It worked like the same-named spell, but as a card, I could use it on myself or an ally, forming a protective barrier around the target. It lasted thirty seconds. Long enough for Mangai to time out.
I targeted Chu and threw out the card just as the incorporeal Mother Mangai, with his claws so sharp and arm so long, reached for Chuluuna.
I realized, to my horror, that I was too slow.
The card didn’t activate immediately like when I used it on myself. Instead, the card flew through the air towards its intended target, and it had a long way to go. I could only watch as the events unfolded before me, searing into my mind with my boosted senses.
Mother Mangai’s clawed and incorporeal hand reached through Chuluuna’s chest and gripped just before the card activated.
There was a sound like the cracking of an egg. The ghost of Mother Mangai flew back as the protective shell launched him into the air, red ribbons trailing in his wake. He disappeared before hitting the ground, his card timing out.
Chuluuna sputtered and fell to his knees, his eyes wide with shock. I could see inside Chuluuna, into the hollow cavity where Mother Mangai had reached into his chest. I had launched the ghost like a rocket, and he had taken some of Chuluuna with him, stretching Chuluuna’s insides across the floor.
I had disemboweled Chuluuna.
Khulan was eerily calm as she clutched Chuluuna, her face splattered with his blood. She was still under the effects of Mordecai potion, but I could hear the whimper in her voice, see the realization dawned on her face. She cast a healing spell, but it fizzled out. Flakes of stone fell from her husband’s skin, crumbling into dust, the spell unraveling now that its caster was dead.
Time seemed to stretch on and on, but I knew it to be no more than mere seconds. Our plan, my plan, had been undone in mere seconds. All of our preparation and planning undermined by a single card. I had assumed to know Quan’s plan, but had instead played right into his hand.
Instead of killing Quan, I had killed Chuluuna.
Without her husband by her side, there would be no one to hold Khulan together. The dungeon had gone above and beyond to break her, but the final blow had been by my hand.
Velma: Ren! Focus!
The ground shook and I noticed the same haptic buzz as before. Canine Instrict had triggered again and I hadn’t paid attention. Khulan was still being targeted. The tile floor around Khulan was splintering and collapsing. Basquiat was underground beneath Khulan, writhing as he tried to push his way through the spherical protective shell to reach her. The spherical shell projected into the ground and stopped Basquiat from emerging. But it would time out in half a minute.
Khulan remained unnervingly composed, casting Heal Other on an invalid target with the same blank expression. Her face growing dark as the light of her spells flickered and failed. Even if Khulan were willing to run, without access to the saferoom, Basquiat would still pursue her, and the destruction he’d wrought would collapse the building on Khulan. Only the main chamber had been large enough to safely hold the totem.
My next card drew, my Freeze card. It wasn’t a consumable like Quan’s but it would stop Basquiat temporarily. Yet, I couldn’t target Basquiat with my while he was hidden from view. Unless he surfaced, the only way to neutralize him was to end combat. I had to stop Quan here and now.
Garret was almost upon Quan, who scrambled across the floor, his battered body trailing blood. Quan had thrown the slugs onto Garret to distract him. They clung to the Tummy Acher’s head, hitting him ineffectively with hatchets and weapons that protruded from their bodies. Garret spun in circles, trying to eat them.
“Damnit Garret, focus on Quan!” I shouted, desperation rising.
Velma: You have to do it yourself! Burn him!
I rushed up behind the beleaguered Quan, slamming my foot down on his sole remaining arm, pinning it to the ground to prevent him from playing another card. As he turned to face me, I pointed Velma down at his face and pulled the trigger. Velma roared with delight as flames poured out and enveloped Quan. His shields protected him from direct harm, but the intense heat scalded him through the barrier, burning his lungs if he so much as breathed. He writhed as the fire chewed away at his shield, his screams barely audible over the roar of the flames.
Velma: Yes, yes! You like that? Feel the heat, little man! Let it flow through you!
Quan bit at his right sleeve, as if he had gone mad and was trying to bite off his arm. His eyes were wild with desperation and fury. Basquiat erupted from the ground, rearing his head and coiling his massive body around the sphere, attempting to squeeze it. Khulan remained inside unmoving, staring down vacantly, still casting healing spells on her lifeless husband. Velma shouted in my mind, sensing my decision, trying to stop me.
Velma: Leave her, Ren! She’s already dead!
I focused my attention on Basquiat, targeting him with my Freeze card. I threw out the card and it hit Basquiat seconds before the protective shell timed out. A new twenty-second timer appeared above the totem. It would be more than enough to end Quan.
When I directed my attention back to Quan, I saw a T’Ghee card between his teeth. Only then did I realize what he had been doing.
Quan also had a Card Clip.
In the moments that I had taken my eye off him, he had unclipped the card from under his robe with his mouth. Panic surged through me. I kicked him in the face, but with his shields, it was like slamming my foot into a cinder block. He spat out the card, and it disappeared.
It was another consumable.
"No, no! You don’t get to do this!", I shouted.
Hand Off!
Quan's remaining hand emptied into my own. I now had seven cards in my hand, having received the rest of Quan's totems and a Force Play card. A notification appeared, prompting me to discard excess cards before I could play any further. I had never seen such a card, and before I could parse what was happening, I watched Quan’s health shoot back up to 100%.
It finally dawned on me what he had done. How fucked I was. Quan deck had been greatly reduced after I had removed all flee cards from combat, and he had given me the rest of his cards. He was now out of cards and out of card combat. He had just used a healing potion from his inventory.
He could now use spells.
I leapt away but not fast enough. Red energy enveloped me, freezing me in mid-air. Velma’s ignited fuel continued to flow, the flammable liquid unaffected by Stasis, spilling across the floor where Quan had once been. The thin man lifted into the air, his body healed, and his flight restored. Rage filled his eyes, and a cruel smile crossed his ashen face. Garret, sensing I was in danger, stopped trying to eat the slugs and charged at Quan, only to get caught in the stasis field.
I knew what was coming: Weapon Cycle. His class skill allowed him to cycle through every munition in his inventory in rapid succession, allowing him to create a hailstorm of thrown weapons, or turn even a basic crossbow into a machine gun. I had seen him slay dozens of crawlers on the recap episode with this skill and Stasis.
Quan’s hands moved with practiced speed, starting with the light crossbow, firing dozens of bolts one after the other, into the stasis field, where they froze in place, but only for the remainder of the spell. My mind raced as I frantically searched for a way out. I was about to become a pincushion.
Quan’s assault was abrutly halted when a falling ceiling tile shattered across his head, knocking him out of the air. He crashed to the ground, momentarily stunned. A slug burst from his back, landing next to him. It bellowed just before a chunk of ceiling splattered it across the floor.
Before Quan could recover, the stasis field timed out.
Dozens of projectiles slammed into me. I curled my body, allowing my helmet and breastplate protected my vitals, and Velma’s Auto Parry deflected the bolts aimed at my neck with her barrel, but the remaining bolts found their mark. They embedded themselves in my arms and legs, riddling my body. I landed in a heap, blinding pain radiating from every limb. Garret rushed at Quan, but Quan had recovered and flew out of reach.
I tried to lift Velma, but Quan pierced my hand with another bolt, and I dropped her. Garret interposed himself between me and Quan, shielding me for further assault. I rolled to view Khulan and Basquiat. Mere seconds were left on the freeze timer. I had to empty my hand to play, but even then, I wouldn’t have the cards I needed in time.
“Damnit, Khulan, you have to run!” I yelled. Basquiat had frozen before he could completely wrap around the shell. She could still escape.
Khulan lifted her head at the sound of my voice, looking me in the eyes for the first time in days. Despite the sedative Mordecai had given her, I could see the comprehension in her eyes, the emotions trying to bubble to the surface that couldn’t quite make it. She smiled weakly, then closed her eyes and rested her head against her husband. She wasn't going anywhere.
Already dead, Velma had said.
No, I thought, don’t do this to me. Don’t make me watch you die.
I wanted to scream, to run to her, but my body wouldn’t respond. The bolt had torn muscle and struck bone. I felt a cold numbness spread through my body and knew I was going into shock. But just before my mind went foggy and I lost consciousness, Basquiat unfroze and my Canine Instinct activated one last time.
I was jolted into full awareness, my senses once again boosted, just in time to watch Basquiat raise his massive head and then fall upon Khulan. He engulfed her, Chuluuna, and everything around them. A thunderous rumble filled the chamber as his giant maw crushed rock and bones alike, and Basquiat disappeared into the ground.
Without a valid target for my Canine Instinct, my perception snapped back to normal. The haptic buzz disappeared, marking the exact moment Khulan died.
Just like that, she was gone in the blink of an eye.
I tried to scream but all that escaped was a pitiful whimper. A crushing pain lanced through my chest as I realized the full extent of my failure, of everything I had just lost.
Quan had won.
He hovered above the destruction, a look of triumph on his face. “That’s a fine totem you got there,” Quan sneered, reclining in the air, exuding more bravado than a man leaking slugs had any right to. “I think I’ll take it with me when I go down the stairs. That is if there’s enough of you left to loot after this.”
The ground trembled as Basquiat bore through the ground, seeking his next target—looking from me.
No, you’re not making it over this floor, I thought to myself. Neither of us are.
I had lost this battle, but I still had one last move—one last fuck you for Quan.
I unclasped the bracer from the arm Quan had pierced, and activated the tooltip icon that appeared in my UI.
“Hey, Quan”, I said, concealed behind Garret, “have you ever watched the movie Predator?”
I activated the bracer’s self-destruct sequence, selecting the ten second option. With a surprisingly steady hand, I tossed it over at the stairwell, landing it right by the entrance. Right in the center of all the traps.
“Go fetch.”
There was a brief moment of confusion before Quan’s eyes widened as he recognized the device. It was availabe to all crawlers through the store interface. A way to opt out of the game with a bang. With the teleport traps and his stasis spell still on cooldown, Quan would have no way to reach the bracer in time. The whole building was about to come down on top of us and there was nothing he could do.
“You fucking bitch!” he hollered, as I crackled, laughing like any normal crazed Gnoll would. I watched as he shot up aiming for a hole in the ceiling, attempting to escape the blast radius.
“See you soon!” I shouted after him.
The ground tore apart as Basquiat emerged in the center of the chamber and roared, turning in my direction. Garret giggled worriedly as he turned to me, not completely understanding what was going on, but scared nonetheless. A pang of guilt struck me as I realized that he’d likely survive the blast and that he’d be all alone after this. The last member of my team left standing.
“Damn, I’m sorry, buddy'', I reached out with my good arm and patted Garret on what I assumed was his cheek. I wished I wasn't leaving him like this. If only I had left him in the guild, then at least someone would be able to look after him. Garret leaned over to nuzzle me, which was awkward for the Tummy Acher, as massive as he was. But despite his size and the terror his jaws posed, I found him to be rather endearing. He was a menace to anyone and anything that he could fit into his mouth, but, with me, he was always only affectionate.
So it surprised me when Garret, my sweet little meatball, opened his large jaws and picked me up gingerly in his mouth, only to then toss back his head and swallow me whole.
The last thing I recalled, before the darkness engulfed me, was the roar of the bracers detonation.
----------------------------------------
Warning: Your Funtimes with Fenian trap has misfired
Warning: The Stairwell Exit at El Capitolio Nacional de Cuba has been rendered inaccessible. All available keys through this exit have been destroyed.
I woke to darkness, as notifications scrolled across my player UI. My senses were overwhelmed by my acrid and stuffy confines, and pain lanced through my body from the crossbow bolt still embedded in my arms and legs. My heart began to races as a feeling of claustrophobia consumed me and I struggled to even breath.
Garret’s mouth, which I had seen grind enemies into minced meat like a blender, now held me, and I felt that I was moments away from being torn apart. Instead, after what felt like an eternity, Garret’s mouth opened and I half fell, half oozed, onto the pavement in front of the capitol building. I was covered in his bile, the foul, meaty smell triggering my gag reflex as my sense of smell returned, being able to breathe properly again. My health was dangerously low, but Garret’s sticky saliva had at least stopped the bleeding. He stood over me protectively while I drifted in and out of consciousness.
Garret hadn’t swallowed me to eat me, I realized, but to shield me from the bracer's explosion. It had taken him several minutes to extricate himself from the collapsed rubble, since he couldn’t eat his way out with me inside him. The explosion had destroyed the building, and white-hot flames now burned at its heart as my misfired trap continued to ignite any flammable materials inside. Somewhere, deep beneath the rubble, I could hear a muffled alarm trap, probably placed by Carl, blasting music. It sounded like the Backstreet Boys.
Warning: Combat Ended. No enemy combatants in range. Deck has been reset.
The system message blinked across my vision, and I realized my spells and inventory had been restored. I instinctively used a health potion from my inventory. Slowly, I sat up using my one good arm, my vision swimming as I took in the devastation around me. The explosion had leveled the surrounding structures and killed all mobs in the nearby area. Quan had fled, likely trying to reach the other exit before his pox took him.
He wouldn’t make it in time. He had only twenty minutes at most.
I cried out as the sensation returned to my body and I doubled over. The potion had healed me, but it hadn’t removed the bolts. I would have to pull each one out, one by one. My hands trembled as I reached for the first one, stuck deep in my upper thigh. Touching it sent an agonizing pulse through my body. I notice, forlornly, that this wasn’t going to be the worst. I had a bolt embedded in my abdomen, spearing me where, if I were still human, my kidney would have been. I didn’t know anything about Gnoll anatomy, but I knew this would be a bitch to remove.
For a moment, I considered leaving the bolts in and letting the wounds take me. My team was done, and I had blown up my exit, my only chance for escape. I wasn’t going to attempt to take Imani’s exit, not when I had no one left to protect.
But that wasn’t entirely true, was it? I still had Garret and I could still get him to the guild. I could ensure that he survived. He huddled up next to me, helping me prop myself up. One more death, and he’d reset. He'd be able to bond with another crawler. Maybe Imani, Brittany, Louis, or even Carl—if Donut would let him. Any one of them could look after and protect Garret until he was big enough to protect them in turn.
But, first, I needed to be able to walk. There were no nearby saferooms, and I couldn’t travel while I still had bolts embedded in my legs. I looked through my inventory for something to help me clip the head off the bolts, but came up short. It looked like I’d have to pull them out the hard way.
When it came to finding something to bite down on, I had more luck. I had several chew toys—joke prizes regularly given to me by my viewers. I selected a bone shaped toy and it squeaked as I placed it between my teeth and waited for my potion cooldown timer to reset.
First comes the worst.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I grabbed the first bolt—the one in my abdomen—and pulled. White hot pain exploded from my side and the chew toy squealed between my teeth. I immediately activated another healing potion as my vision began to swim and I blacked out.
I came too about a minute later. Heat still radiated from my side, and I could smell the scent of fresh blood that covered my hands. I looked around for the bolt I had pulled and couldn’t find it. Then I examined my wound.
“Motherfucker!” I coughed.
The bolt was still there, sticking out of me. It was further out than before, but I hadn’t managed to remove it all the way and the potion had resealed the wound around it. I would have to do this again, and that was only for one bolt.
I can’t do this, I thought, as I leaned my head back against Garret’s leg. I would rest for a moment before I'd consider trying again. I closed my eyes for several moments, perhaps several minutes, I wasn't keeping track of time at this point. Just breathing and listening to the crackling of fire as pain swelled through my body in waves.
One more time, I thought, we'll try for something easier this time. I eyed the bolt in my right hand.
I was interrupted by another notification, this one different from the rest.
Area Message:
The Madre de Aguas has succumbed to her zombism curse. She has fallen and risen again. But the curse has left her vulnerable, and a major demon has involuntarily slipped into the realm. Amayon has arrived. Beware, all. Beware.
Hell has come to burn the world.
I don’t know if it was the delirium from my pain, but I found this oddly funny. Here I was, surrounded by burning buildings, the bodies of my loved one smoldering somewhere under the rubble, while I sat, caked in blood and bile, trying to pull crossbow bolts out of myself. Was this supposed to terrify me? Now?
Velma: He’s a little late to the game.
The absurdity of it all was too much, and my hysteria bubbled over. My laugh echoed through the smoke and crackling fire, the harsh, hyena-like cackle that I despised but couldn’t stop. I hated my laugh, hated how unnervingly the laugh of a Gnoll sounded. But Garret soon joined in with his deep rumbling giggle, and I couldn't stop myself even as the pain from my wounds doubled me over.
Little by little, my laughter began to change, until I was sobbing.