Kenzie saw a form at the window and barely had time to point her spear towards it when the glass shattered and something large and furry came through in a hail of shattered glass. Kenzie shrank back from the rain of glass shards, protecting her face with one arm while trying to move herself in front of Malcolm. The shards bit into her as she gave out a cry causing Shane to shift his focus to her which left Brom the only one holding the door.
“Kenzie!” Shane yelled as whatever had burst through the window was suddenly upon his girlfriend.
The thing looked like a werewolf wearing some sort of leather armor. It lashed out with one arm and landed a blow along Kenzie’s ribs, digging deep furrows with its claws. This caused Kenzie to scream in pain and fear, and in her panic, she swung her spear to place it between herself and her attacker, but in the confines of the store, she only managed to hit Malcolm behind her with the butt of the spear. Malcolm, staggered by the impact, launched a magic bolt from his staff, but it fired off into the ceiling instead at his intended target.
Shane bolted across the small space and tackled the creature as Brom gave up on holding the door and yelled for Brynn to hide. The door burst in as the shelf slid back revealing another werewolf creature in armor. This one held a sword in one hand, and it had drool dripping from its muzzle. It took a cursory look, saw Brom, and charged with its sword and a howl. Brom summoned his own sword which took the beast off guard but only for a moment before the two weapons clashed.
Brynn backpedaled deeper into the store, followed closely by Harvey. Kenzie recovered from the initial shock of the glass explosion and her body glowed briefly as she activated her armor spell, coating herself with the ghostly Viking armor. As Shane wrestled with the wolf warrior, he took a claw across the chest and arms with a notification popping up mid-fight telling him he had taken damage. He cleared the screen just as the monster opened its mouth to try and bite his face. There was nowhere to move his head and the thing was slightly stronger. Shane gritted his teeth as he prepared to have his face torn off, fortunately at that point, a spear tip slammed directly into the open mouth as a bolt of magic found its mark in the thing’s ribs. The body went slack, and Shane saw another pop up appear, but he quickly shut that off.
Brom found himself outmatched by the wolf creature in skill with its weapon and was hit several times in the thigh and once in his arm. But it became obvious to the football player that he was significantly stronger and began to use that to his advantage as he battered the werewolf with heavy blows. In this way, he forced the thing back towards the door. Brom was feeling surer of a victory when from the darkness outside, an arrow whistled in through the open door, over the wolf things’ shoulder and slammed into Brom’s chest. Brom let out a grunt as the wind was knocked out of him and he staggered back.
The beast before him leapt forward aiming to stab its sword through Brom’s chest, when it was hit by a bolt of eldritch magic. The bolt sizzled through the monster’s shoulder and into its torso causing it to release a howl of pain and surprise. It stumbled forward as it turned its head to look for its attacker which turned out to be a fatal mistake. As soon as it turned its attention away from Brom, he stepped forward, his own sword parallel to the ground and impaled the monster through the stomach.
Just as Brom was finishing his opponent, another beast leapt through the broken window. This one had a round wooden shield in one hand and a long dagger in the other. Kenzie squared up with it as Shane maneuvered his way out from under the dead monster on his chest. As he did so, he called up his Inspect ability on the newest beast.
Wolfen Scout – Level 3
HP: 35
“They’re level three!” Shane bellowed, which luckily enough slightly distracted the wolfen facing Kenzie and she managed to plunge her spear into one of its legs, effectively pinning it in place. As he got untangled from the dead wolfen, Shane saw that it had a sheathed sword on its hip. Since he could not remember where he had dropped his crowbar, he drew the sword and stood, just as another sizzling magic bolt flew through the store and impacted the speared wolfen’s other leg, causing it to drop to its knees.
“Go for the legs!” Malcolm yelled. “They’re unarmored!” He focused and fired another bolt at the struggling wolfen which barely avoided getting hit as it blocked the spell with its shield.
From Shane’s vantage point, he could see out the broken window and saw two other wolfen outside. One was an archer, trying to line up a shot at Brom, but the other was bigger and was wielding a large two-handed sword, much like Brom.
Wolfen Hunt Leader – Level 4
HP: 45
Crap! Shane’s mind began moving a mile a minute, “There’s a level four boss outside! And another archer!”
Brom obviously in pain called out, “Kenzie you got that one?”
Kenzie ripped her spear from the scout’s leg, spraying blood, “Oh yeah! This one’s going nowhere!” Her voice surprised Shane with the vigor and almost glee that she spoke with.
“Good! Mal, focus on the archer!” Brom kicked the dead wolfen off his sword. “Shane come heal me. The boss is mine!”
Shane, responding to the conviction in Brom’s voice, quickly ran to his friend’s side and placed a hand on his shoulder, triggering his healing spell, Mending Touch. As he did so, Brom viciously tore the arrow from his own chest and spit a large glob of blood on the floor. “Dude, you’re down twelve points of health! I can only heal you for five right now.”
Suffused in the warmth of the healing touch, Brom squared his shoulders, “It’ll do.” He stepped past Shane and towards the door. As he passed the threshold of the doorway, an arrow slammed into the wooden doorframe close to his head. Brom saw the archer take a bolt of energy to one arm, causing it to drop the bow. As it drew its sword, it looked conflicted on which opponent to face, the human stepping outside or the mage that hit it with the bolt.
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Brom made the decision for it as he channeled his class talent and yelled at the wolfen with the two-handed sword, “You and me dickwad!” A ripple passed through the air and the archer stopped moving, its sword forgotten as it simply watched. The hunt leader, however, growled deeply showing its fangs and immediately leapt to the attack.
Meanwhile, inside the store, Brynn had immediately made her way to the shop’s main counter and was hiding behind it with Harvey standing protectively in front of her. She could hear the screams of combat and her friends in danger, but she was paralyzed with fear. She winced when she heard Brom cry out when he was injured by the arrow and tears flowed freely down her face. She hated everything about this new reality. She was in-between sniffles when she heard breaking glass from the adjoining apartment, the door of which was directly in front of her at the end of the counter. Harvey heard it too and took a step towards the door.
Brynn loved the bear for its bravery, but really could not fathom how a small teddy bear made of fluff could protect her from the nightmare monsters that had come. Maybe Batman would have been better. As the conflict in the store continued, the door handle to the apartment began to slowly turn. Brynn shrank even deeper into the corner, fear causing her to shiver, and a whimper escaped her lips.
The door opened inward slowly showing only darkness. A single guttering candle on the counter gave off just enough light for Brynn to see two yellow eyes reflected in the dark. This was the end. She was sure of it. There was nowhere to run or hide.
Suddenly, Harvey charged forward, and with a cry, “It’s a bear thing!”, he leapt into the dark doorway. Both Harvey and the frightening eyes disappeared almost immediately followed by a growl from the monster and a yell from Harvey, “For Lovie!”
Then a noise that Brynn had never heard before came from the room. It was a roar of absolute rage. Brynn peed her pants in abject terror. Something else was in that room with the monster and Harvey. Something scarier than the things that had attacked her friends. Something truly monstrous. The roar was followed by a yelp as if a dog had gotten injured, then a gurgling sound and then nothing. Brynn stared at the dark doorway, transfixed, waiting for the beast within to come devour her. Movement in the dark made her flinch.
Harvey came sauntering out, splashed with blood, but otherwise unharmed. He saw the state that Brynn was in and dashed to her side, “It’s alright Lovie.” He crooned as he hugged his mistress. “Harvey the Wonder Bear took care of it.” He smiled his happiest smile and was instantly crushed to Brynn’s chest as she caught him up in a hug and shook with tears.
Just after healing Brom, Shane heard the roar from the back room and immediately spun in that direction. Still holding the sword from the fallen wolfen scout, he dashed around the shelves and displays just in time to see Harvey come out of the door and head behind the counter. Shane slipped on a trail of blood left by Harvey’s tiny footprints and saw Brynn hugging the blood splashed bear.
“Brynn!” Shane knelt to check on the sobbing teen. He placed a hand on her arm and used his class talent, Diagnose. He was instantly relieved to see that she was unharmed. Hearing the clash of swords and more yelling from his friends, Shane was torn as he peeked over the counter.
Harvey’s cute anime voice said, “Go help the others. I’ve got Lovie.”
Shane took a second to study the bear, then looked at Brynn, catching her eye. “I will be right back.” He added, “Stay right here.” With that he rose and made his way back to the front of the store where Kenzie had finished off the wounded wolfen and both she and Malcolm were moving towards the front door.
Shane dashed to the front door as both Malcolm and Kenzie stepped outside. Brom looked bad. Shane took a chance and really looked at his friend.
Brom Debray – Level 1
HP: 19/42
SP: 22/38
MP: 14/32
Status: Bleeding
Crap! He’s really hurt, and I can’t heal him for another hour! “Shit! Shit! Shit!” Shane cursed as Brom was once again stronger physically but was outdone by the wolfen’s better skill. The wolfen seemed to laugh as he continued battering Brom, almost playing with him. Brom took another hit and Shane jumped as Brynn came up behind him and took a shocked intake of breath.
Kenzie and Malcolm had managed to make it outside and maneuvered around to the side of the combat and directly behind the one remaining wolfen that was still standing transfixed. The two gave each other questioning looks, but when the wolfen scout did not react to them, they both shrugged. Kenzie squared her stance and lunged forward with her spear, taking the wolfen in the back of the neck and her spearhead thrust violently out of the beast’s mouth. It dropped without a sound. She then took a step towards the wolfen leader but found that she could not make her feet move more than a few steps towards it.
Brom had switched to a purely defensive stance at this point and Shane yelled at Kenzie and Malcolm, “How come you aren’t helping him?”
Kenzie, frustrated, yelled back angrily, “I can’t, dammit! Something is keeping me from moving closer!”
Malcolm followed up with, “I can’t target the thing! When I try, the spell just fizzles!”
Brom, breathing hard managed to say, “My class talent. I challenged it to single combat. No one can interfere.”
“Fuck!” Shane screamed, absolutely frustrated.
Then from behind him, Shane heard Brynn yell out, “Kick his ass Brom!” A faint wash of magic spread over the area just after her cry.
Brom, shoulders sagging, arms burning from fatigue suddenly stood up straighter. A smile played across his face as he got a second wind and stepped into the wolfen leader’s next blow. He finally realized that he was playing to the thing’s strength and not his own. Time to turn this shit around! As their swords clashed once more, Brom pushed away from the monster and took a wild gamble and dismissed his sword.
The wolfen snarled in delight and moved to raise its own large weapon in an overhead swing that would surely decapitate its foe. Only, it could not complete the swing. Something caused the weapon to fall out of its hands. Completely surprised by the turn of events, it was unprepared for the body tackle that followed. Brom and the wolfen crashed to the muddy asphalt. Immediately Brom took charge of the fight. He spun around the wolfen, grappling it and caught it in a wrestling hold. Its arms were pinned outward by Brom’s legs so its claws could not be brought to bear and Brom’s thick arms were wrapped around its throat in a fierce choke hold.
The creature tried thrashing around, but it was obvious that Brom was simply far stronger. After only a few minutes, Brom felt its body go slack as it passed out. However, he continued to engage the choke hold. With a heavy breath he invited Kenzie over, “Hey Kenz, you mind?” He nodded his head at the wolfen.
Finally able to move towards her friend, Kenzie wasted no time and found an opening in the beast’s leather armor, just below its armpit and neatly slid her spear into it. The fallen leader gave out a last sigh and died. Brom relaxed his hold and collapsed backward onto the ground, sucking in air, but only for a moment as he roughly shoved the body off himself. “Fuck you.” He spat blood and then collapsed back onto the ground once more, completely spent.
Malcolm had been keeping an eye out and saw no other creatures around but did not want to linger outside. “Guys can we get back inside maybe? I don’t see any more monsters, but that doesn’t mean they’re not out here.”
Kenzie began helping Brom up as Brynn tackled him back to the ground causing Brom to wince, “Oof! Take it easy there, Princess. I think I have a broken rib.”
“OhmygoditwashorribleandIwassoscaredandHarveywasthereandamonsterandtherewassomuchbloodandyou…” Brynn began to hysterically speak a mile a minute as Brom gently eased her off him.
“Brynn?” He tried to get her to slow down but she was in full on babble mode from fear and adrenaline. He took her face in his hands and held her still, “Brynn!” when he was sure that he had her attention, “Are you hurt? I see blood.”
“No. No. It’s not mine. It’s from Harvey.”
Brom noticed the bloody bear standing next to Brynn, but its attention was more tuned to looking out into the dark.