As with most important nights in her life, things weren’t going quite as Ivy expected. Oh, they weren’t a million miles away by any means, just subtly off from what she’d pictured in a dozen different ways. Take the dwarves, they were heavily armoured but they were a patchwork of different types of heavy armour: plate, brigandine, lamellar, it felt like the group walked into an armour museum and just grabbed whatever they saw first until they were covered and clanking like a car old enough to drink.
Of course, the first surprise was the two guards rushing in, bleeding and burned. Evelyn had mentioned that Timberhollow would have guards outside, but other than the dearth of creatures wandering in, Ivy had mostly forgotten about it. From the state they were in though, things weren’t going well. When the dwarves rushed in shortly after, the lead axeman (axedwarf?) hacking through the shield into the guard blocking the gap, it became obvious why. Some of them sported minor injuries and one pulled out an arrow embedded in his armour but they were all above level twenty, with the three non-dwarves with them being even higher.
Evelyn’s gasp as she recognised the captain of the guard would have been enough to clue Ivy in that his presence was bad news, but as he prevented the lead dwarf from attempting to finish off the guard now shrouded in greyish lifesaving energy, it was hard not to have mixed feelings. Clearly there was friction within the group and the rat beastkin with them had already shown himself capable of treachery, Ivy had no idea how to exacerbate that, but if they could things might get a lot easier.
Things were all happening fast with most of the group rushing forward, trampling over the downed guard with a single dwarf left to drag him out and bring in another of their companions from outside. Frustratingly the lead dwarf seemed to be able to unerringly point out the pitfalls.
“[Trapsense].” Evelyn breathed.
A sliver of memory flashed into Ivy’s mind, “So it’s a true kill team then?”
“At the very least we should treat it as such, not that we can do much more than we already have.” she sighed. “Hopefully the dungeon will wear them down, I’m ashamed to admit I wouldn’t last long against the full group as is.” Gesturing to the guard being dragged out, “Much less if there are more. Regardless, we should follow quickly, the other guard may be about to face a similar fate.”
As it turned out, he managed to hide successfully though Ivy muttered a curse as she saw the axe wielder with [trapsense] leading the others across the second room.
“His mana will not last forever,” Evelyn commented, clearly seeing the look on her face.
Ivy took a breath, getting frustrated wouldn’t accomplish anything and they hadn’t expected the first floor to slow them much. Still, as the trapsensing dwarf charged through the tunnel into the third room she was filled with the fervent hope he’d be hit in the face by a brick, or better yet a boulder.
Alas, the latter was not to be, he sprang out of the end of the tunnel with unexpected nimbleness and tinkling lamellar. The rest were waiting for the boulder to pass, as seemingly had become tradition for this floor. Pity the rat beastkin and likely the guard captain knew a lot of their tricks. Bricks flew and the dwarf showcased his nimbleness once more. He wasn’t making forward progress but time was on his side. As the rumble of the boulder started to fade, a series of battlecries rang out and the delvers charged into the room, quickly dealing with the skeletons. One of them took a glancing blow from a brick and the skeletal rat managed to sneak up on another in the chaos but broke its teeth on their sabatons.
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With only a sharp intake of breath from Evelyn to warn her, she found herself at the bottom of the pit in the previous room, the injured guard standing over a dwarf he’d just executed as another dwarf with an arrow in his back charged towards him, mace raised. It was disorientating but Ivy recognised the guard as he drew for his next shot, he was one of the younger ones but had often been brought on the deeper runs as an archer. She liked him. He was a bundle of nerves but did his best. This time though, despite being wounded and out of his depth, his movements were decisive rather than fumbling.
Suddenly the dwarf teleported the last fifteen feet. The young guard was flung backwards with a sickening crack that Ivy hoped was just his bow and not his ribs. A worried curse slipped between her lips, rushing forward, wishing she could do something.
“Blasted...! The child was supremely unlucky his assailant had a gap closing skill.”
The dwarf reached the downed guard before Ivy could – not that she really had any viable plan, incorporeal and unseen as she was - and prepared to crush his skull.
“Don’t think yer little offerings to the hole will save ya. Yer noggin will be paste on the ground by the time I’m done with ye.”
Pounding rang in Ivy’s ears as the mace descended. The guard limply attempted to raise the remains of his bow. There was an almighty clang as a familiar giant metal shield was interposed and the mace rebounded. Sarge stood over the injured guard and as Ivy skidded down beside him, grey lifesaving light washed over the injured recruit as the unnamed god’s blessing activated.
“You did well recruit, damn well. I’ll take it from here.”
His eyes turned hard and he swung the edge of the shield into the side of dwarf. Ivy had often wondered about that tower shield; it looked like an incredibly unwieldy block of metal, yet Sarge carried it around so nonchalantly that she had to wonder if it was hollow. As it slammed into the dwarf, barely slowing as it crunched ribs and crushed organs, bending the pieces of the dwarf’s armour into their place, while throwing him several feet, all Ivy’s questions were answered in a horrifying display of applied physics. Unfortunately, their clash had not gone unnoticed.
“Sargeant, take the recruit and retreat.” The captain of the guard’s voice boomed from above on the far side of the room.
“What are you doing Luke?” He gestured to the downed guard, “Is this really what’s best for the guard and Timberhollow?”
“I told you to let us pass. I’m the reason no one is dead-”
“No one is dead!? Half a dozen people are teetering on the edge and you think I’ll just let you-”
“We don’t have time for this! Once we enter the second floor he can’t follow us anyway.” The rat beastkin interjected.
“We’ll just deal with this arse and get Hoic and the last two from outside-”
The captain shook his head, “Sarge wouldn’t be here if the fight outside hadn’t already been decided.”
“Exactly! They’ve done their job and bought time. You all came here to die, Hoic will just slow us down at this point. Let’s move.”
“Why you-!”
“We leave them.” the woman with blazing hair decreed, “We will kill the blight and honour their sacrifice. Do not assume too much Tommy, you have yet to earn your gold, and the value you place on lives greater than yours will be remembered.” She fixed him with a stare before striding onwards once more, expecting the others to follow.
The rat beastkin shivered, though from rage or fear Ivy couldn’t discern at this distance. Ivy noticed Sarge’s glance followed the guard captain as he filed out last.
“It won’t work Luke.”
Without looking back, “I’ve never struggled to kill Charles. A lord, a gang, a dungeon. Whatever it takes I’ll kill the troublemakers till Timberhollow can thrive.”