Driving down the streets of Dallas with the windows down and looking for a fight was a whole new experience for the team of people in the vehicle. Tom felt like he was in a mob movie where he and his crew were looking to shake someone down. James stood in the middle of the vehicle with the upper half of his body sticking out of the sunroof, scanning the area for any threats.
A small whistling noise caught James' attention just before a small rock hit him in the head.
"OWWWWW....Motherfucker that hurt like a son of a bitch!" He wailed dropping down into the car.
"What happened?" Derek said, looking around in every direction for something.
"Something hit me in my fucking head!" James said, a small bit of blood starting to run down from his scalp.
Looking back at James, seeing the blood on the left side of his head he looked to Jay.
"Jay! Your side! Be ready!" Derek shouted.
Jay grunted and then began to look carefully out the window. Seeing movement he turned back to the others.
"They're coming from the left and slightly behind us. Can we turn around to get at them?"
Turning to view, Derek saw where they were coming from.
"Make a U-turn at this street and let's see if we can hit any of them with the vehicle first," Derek said.
"On it!" Tom replied.
Pulling to the right of the street at the intersection and then turning the vehicle as tight as he could, Tom performed a U-turn where he almost struck a vehicle parked on the side of the road. The goblins saw this and began to increase their speed toward the vehicle. Whooping and yelling at the top of their lungs in what looked like an attempt to get themselves into a frenzy, they charged at the party full tilt.
They raised their weapons to stab the SUV and were rewarded with a cattle guard to the face and tire marks on their body. The first goblin's face practically exploded on impact with the metal grill as the bones in its face were shoved through the rest of its skull and out the back of its head. The Tahoe rocked back and forth as the small bodies were crushed under its immense weight.
"This is way easier than in my car!" Tom said, a smile plastered on his face.
Kiera looked like she was going to be slightly sick.
"I'm not so sure I can handle this," Kiera said.
"Oh come on. It's just like hunting or fishing. You catch 'em and then you gotta gut 'em!" Jay said looking back at the devastation they had wrought, grinning.
Kiera held her head out the window and wretched, vomit streaming down the side of the vehicle and eating away at the clear coat of the paint.
"What's the matter, princess? Can't stomach the violence?" Jay teased her.
"I'm not sure if it says more about me that I'm doing so well, or more about you that it's not bothering you," Kiera replied, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and glaring daggers at Jay.
"It's OK if you can't handle it. We can find another place for you." Jay mocked.
Kiera pursed her lips and began to turn bright red. Her anger boiled over at his words.
"I'll show you can't handle it you stupid motherfucker!" Kiera shouted.
And with that, she shot up out of her seat and through the sunroof. Turning to point the crossbow behind the vehicle, she took aim and fired a bolt backward. It soared through the air and embedded itself to the feathers in a goblin's skull. The one that the vehicle had missed running over.
She slammed herself back down into the vehicle and began angrily reloading the crossbow. Jay sat still with his eyes wide in shock and disbelief. Silence rained in the SUV for a moment before Kiera spoke.
"The next one is going in your whirligigs..." Kiera said threateningly looking up at Jay.
Tom took a right at the next intersection so as not to backtrack to the center and kept driving for a few minutes when he noticed there was a group of people making a left off a street a few lights ahead of them and they were running toward their vehicle. Panic was written on all of their faces. Men and women were clearly running for their lives. Some of them carried children.
As they saw the vehicle moving they began to scream for help. Begging the party to come to their aid. Just as everyone was beginning to wonder what was chasing them, a large creature turned the corner. Its skin was a greenish-grey color and it had long oily, thin, stringy hair that came down from its head to about the middle of its back. Black-banded tattoos wrapped around its upper arms and it wore nothing but a loin cloth. Carrying a giant wooden club in its hand lazily dragging on the ground behind it, the creature had to stand at least twelve feet tall with long lanky arms and legs, and it looked like it wasn't very well-fed.
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"What the actual fuck is that?!" James said, staring out the windshield as Tom brought the car to a halt.
"It's an ogre..." Derek said looking at it in awe.
"How the hell do you know that?" Jay asked.
"I used Identify on it," Derek replied, not able to look away.
"So, what do we do?" Kiera asked.
"I say we fuck it's day up!" Kevin called from the backseat, hefting his axe menacingly.
"It's gigantic. It'll kill us!" Kiera replied to him.
"The bigger they are, the harder they fall! Cut it's legs out from under it and it'll topple easy peasy." Kevin said as he began to climb over the seat.
"He's right," Tom said, looking at Derek. "We can't leave these people, there are fucking children in there!"
"Fine. Put it in park, take the keys so one of these lunatics doesn't steal our ride, and let's roll," Derek said.
Nodding, everyone jumped out of the vehicle and gathered in front of the Tahoe.
"So what's the plan?" Jay asked.
"Tom, myself, and Kevin will get its attention. James, you make it mad by shooting it. Kiera , aim for the eyes. Jay, try to get behind it and cut its Achilles tendons." Derek said. "Don't try to be a hero! Stay safe, stay alive, and call out moves or openings as you see them. Teamwork is the goal."
"Let's do this shit," James said solemnly.
Moving out from in front of the vehicle, the first of the people running down the street began to pass them. some looked over their shoulders at the fools moving toward the monster, but most were too in shock to even try to look around. The monster was fixated on a woman carrying one child and leading two others near the back of the pack to notice the party moving toward them.
"James! Move right and start firing up at it! Get it's attention off that family!" Derek yelled.
"On it!" James called back as he jogged to the right and aimed at the creature.
"Kiera, stand ready! Don't fire until you are sure you have a shot! That crossbow takes way too long to reload to fire too soon!" Derek called out to her.
"You got it!" Kiera called back.
"Jay! Get gone!" Tom called over to him, making sure he knew they had the center.
Jay just nodded and sprinted off to the left to try to get behind the creature.
"HUUUUURRRAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH!!!!" Came a bellow from Kevin that made even the panicking people turn and move out of his way.
The Ogre looked up from its chase at the yell. Seeing the party that was advancing toward it instead of fleeing, it paused in confusion.
"I'm going to try something, so sorry in advance if it doesn't pan out," Tom said.
With that, he began to cast a spell. Greenish energy began to form in his hand and it crackled and spat like a fire burning up wood that was too wet. He uttered the magical phrase and then pushed both of his hands forward at the ogre's head.
A green fireball shot from his hands and hit the ogre in the face. Its hair caught fire and began to burn. The ogre began to dance around, dropping its club and swatting at its head in an attempt to put out the fire. Gunshots sounded from the right as James began to fire at it as well.
The beast put its arms up in front of its face to block the bullets and began to growl angrily. When all the hair had burnt up and the fire was out, it reached down and picked up its club off the ground and began to charge at them, letting out its own roar of anger.
"Split! Try to keep it's attention though!" Derek called out.
Everyone split to either side of the street and moved to stay out of its path. The sudden change of direction of the party confused the ogre again as it couldn't decide who to chase. It decided to chase after Tom who had shot it with the spell and raised its club to smash him. Derek lunged forward as Tom rolled across the ground to get out of the strike. The club hit with a thunderous force that cracked the sidewalk. Derek got to the creature just after it struck and lashed out with his mace at the ogre's knee.
The creature buckled and went down to one knee from the blow as it howled in pain. Unfortunately, Derek had struck the back of the ogre's knee and so now the mace was firmly held in the grasp of its leg. It reached out to grab Derek, who let go of the mace and danced backward.
Tom had pulled his greatsword from his storage and lunged forward to stab the ogre in the side while it was looking at Derek. Another wail of pain erupted from the ogre as it swung its other arm out instinctively at Tom. Unable to react in time, Tom was sent flying backward, his sword still embedded in the ogre's side. He landed on the ground and bounced as he continued his trip, coming to a stop when he rolled into another vehicle on the street.
Jay suddenly appeared behind the beast and chopped at its Achilles that was laid out before him on the kneeling leg with his shortsword. There was an audible snapping sound as the tendon released back up into the ogre's leg. The screams of the ogre reached a new crescendo as it let loose a sound that was now almost deafening. As it had turned its head back to see what had injured it there was a twang from behind the group.
A bolt sprouted from the eye of the ogre and the screaming suddenly stopped. Its body went slack and it began to slump to the ground.
"Tom!" Derek yelled as he ran over to him.
Tom was just starting to try to roll over. A purplish light began to surround him as Derek got closer.
"I said don't be a fucking hero you moron!" Derek chastised him.
"I had it covered," Tom said, then coughed as blood came out of his mouth. "Besides, you all needed the distraction and I can heal."
"Are you alright now? You're coughing up blood!" Derek said, looking down at the red fluid on Tom's hands and shirt.
"Yeah, HP shows fully healed. Just some leftovers from before I cast dark healing that had to come out." Tom replied.
Derek let out a relieved sigh.
"If it's head had just been lowered I could have cut it off!" Kevin said from behind them.
The party laughed.
"I'm sure you would have. Good on you for distracting it with that yell." Tom said.
As they were talking, some of the fleeing bystanders began to come over to them and thank them.
"Look, tell everyone that if they go down this street two blocks and then turn left they will run into the Trammel Crow Center where there are others waiting. They can help you and fill you all in on what is going on." Tom stood and said to the people.
They continued to try to thank the party until they were ushered off to head to the center with promises that they would watch the rear and make sure no monsters followed them while also letting them know they hadn't seen any monsters that they hadn't killed on the way there. Relief was visible on all of their faces as they turned to walk down the street toward the center.
"We did good there. What the hell was that spell you used?" James asked Tom.
"Oh, it was eldritch blast," Tom replied as he smiled.
"Seriously?! That was fucking badass.
"I know right? I can't wait to use it again." Tom said.
Just as he said this, another roar sounded from further down the street in the city. This time from around the corner came two of the ogres.
"Well, shit," Tom said.