“What do you think?” Luke asked the Ranger Captain crouching over the broken brush as the consistent drizzle began to seep through the thick padding beneath his armour. Another reason to wish he could be back in his barracks sorting out the mess Krieger made for his guard.
“Whatever it is, it’s big and definitely not native.” Gesturing to a charred tree he continued grimly, “Looks like it has some sort of fire or possibly acid skill. It’s almost certainly a dungeon remnant. The two of us dealing with this may not be as overkill as I thought.”
Luke had learned to trust his fellow captain’s judgement over the years, so that assessment was less than reassuring.
“Nothing else for it then, you track and distract, I’ll go for the kill. It’ll ruin the meat but if it’s a remnant it should have a decent sized mana stone. Not that Timberhollow’s been short on those lately...” Some bitterness leaked out in his tone.
Leading the way through the damp brush and setting a good pace, not that the path of destruction made tracking particularly difficult though Luke was sure for every sign of passage he saw the ranger saw two others. His peer’s response was measured.
“With all the training in the dungeon the lack of rangers hunting or gathering is becoming a problem. Still, have to keep the poncy elves happy and the training will be useful in the long term.” Luke stumbled over a protruding root as the ranger asked perceptively, “But I take it the Lord’s recent decision to open the dungeon to others bothers you? Or perhaps it’s that he made the decision without consulting us?”
Wishing he could move as smoothly through the forest as his companion, he steadied himself before the fresh smell of damp forest was replaced by a face full of oozing mud. Returning to town so dishevelled would send the wrong message as the captain of the guard.
“Both. Wasn’t the whole point of the coup to remove a leader who made moronic unilateral decisions?” Privately he’d only been open to Krieger becoming the Lord because he doubted the bureaucrat had the spine to do things alone and would be controlled by his council. One person shouldn’t have all that power, but he wasn’t about to share that sentiment so directly. “Now I can’t pursue the woman who killed my men and the dungeon we kept because it could be used to train our forces is being opened for others to do the same. What was the point?”
“He should have consulted us about it, and I intend to make sure he’s well aware of that, but I suspect his reasoning is political. We can’t afford to lose trade from other cities.”
“We can’t destroy the dungeon in case we offend the elves, we can’t limit access in case we offend the beastkin or other cities, Kieran’s even making noises recently about how we might offend the minor gods if we don’t offer tribute every time we enter. Where does it end?” Luke knew he was ranting now but his fellow captain was one of the few people he could rant to, albeit he still needed to exercise some discretion. “When do we get to dictate the terms instead of sacrificing? Why don’t the elves send some of their fancy warriors in to get mana stones? Why aren’t we taxing the beastkin or at least sending guards in with them, doesn’t he realise any of them could cause a dungeon break? As for the other cities, what do we owe them? As I recall in the coup we were the ones who sent troops to help them…” He trailed off as the lifeless faces came unbidden to his mind and the sobs and angry words of their families echoed as if no time had passed. The memories of those they lost still burned deep inside and as he walked once more through these woods, kindled the memory of those lost just before. The convoy to try to convince the holdouts that went oh so wrong when skeletons appeared just as home was on the horizon.
“I hear you Luke, but you know as well as I, we have to pick fights we can win. Once we’ve dealt with this beastie we can have a chat with Lord Krieger about the security concerns and hear what concessions he was able to wrangle for the access. Let’s hold judgement until we have the full picture…” The ranger’s voice trailed off as the destroyed brush ahead changed direction slightly. “It’s close but veering back towards town! Come on!”
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Toting his war flail with both hands he sprinted after his companion, the damp ground softening his footfalls as his eyes scanned the trees ahead for signs of the creature. He cursed softly, “So much for stronger creatures staying further from the wards.”
“They mostly work. This one is an exception. Three above do I hate the exceptions.”
A four-legged lizard-like creature the size of a small house, covered in bone spikes came into view through the gap it had forged in the trees. It was facing away from them but its long tail ended in a heavy looking sphere covered in rough skin and bone, like some sort of natural mace making their angle of approach considerably less comforting.
Luke charged forward, sacrificing some speed for surety of footing as he tried to maintain the element of surprise and navigate the muddy, root filled earth. The ranger was swiftly stringing his bow as he passed, having already removed it from the oilskin protecting it from the rain. His war flail should be a terrible matchup against a creature like this. An awkward to use polearm without a blade, its ability to get around shields or take down foes non-lethally irrelevant against the beast. Of course, that was before skills were considered. Shadowy blackness enveloped the rapidly rotating, metal-studded head of the war flail as he activated his [Death-Shrouded Armaments] and [Greater Bash]. Approaching from a slight angle to avoid the tail sweeping back and forth behind the creature, a heavy twohanded swing made contact with the top of one of the creature’s legs with a meaty thud. This just might be cathartic after all the stress of the last few months.
A reptilian screech from the beak of the creature was all the warning before the tail was swinging towards him as the creature rotated faster than he thought possible. Grateful once more that he opted for slightly less armour than his master sergeant in favour of mobility and for his [Avoidance] skill, he managed to dart backwards just in time. He’d been expecting an attack, though the speed had almost caught him off guard. He managed to strike a light blow with his flail on the tail as arrows started to hammer home between the bone spikes that covered the creature’s back.
“Look out!”
The warning was just enough for him to jump backwards once more, tumbling as he landed awkwardly on a root system. A gob of liquid, steaming as the rain struck it, shot through the space he had just occupied before splattering to the ground with a hungry hiss. A glance revealed the creature’s neck twisting so far the steaming beak was pointed antiparallel to its body. He scrambled to his feet as it made its way towards him, the rapidly whitening skin on the top of the near leg likely the only reason he had time to do so, flakes falling like snow from the top of the limb.
“That was a skill, so this is a remnant.”
“You’ve encountered one of these things before?!” Luke asked, no sooner on his feet than he had to duck under a tail swipe. He was forced to dive away to dodge the backswing, notably avoiding the hissing, steaming acid spill.
“Ankylosaurus.” The ranger offered as another arrow hammered into the creature with uncanny accuracy, slowly bleeding it out. “Or at least it was before one of the damn pits got a hold of it. Definitely shouldn’t spit acid. Or that!”
It was his companion’s turn to dive to one side as a spine shot towards him, selfishly Luke was a little glad he wasn’t drawing literally all the danger as he barely got to his feet again and managed to land a heavier blow on the swinging tail before having to dart backwards once more. Another gob of acid had him ducking behind a tree which began steaming ominously as it was caught in the splash zone. The top of the tree was sent careening with a sharp crack by the swinging tail before heat turned to flame on the bottom of it. Ducking had Luke warding off the sudden heat and he could feel the sting of a few splinters that would likely bother him more later once the adrenaline wore off. A glance through the flame at the creature showed the fight was all but over though.
Keeping his distance from the bloodied creature he saw the black blotches of necrotised flesh as the leg he struck at the beginning went out from under it sending it crashing to the ground. The spots were beginning to appear on the tail as well as its swinging became less vigorous. A bone spike shot out passing to his left as the creature thrashed in its distress before a well-placed arrow sank deeply into its eye and after a brief delay it suddenly stilled.
“Well, the meat is going to rot but if we’re quick we might be able to save some of the bones, and of course there’s the mana gem…”
As his companion moved to start breaking down the creature Luke couldn’t help but think fatalistically it sounded a little like Timberhollow; the elves always get their mana gems, some organisations and structure can be saved while others crumble, and of course, the regular people rot and die.