"One...NOW!" Derek called out as he moved further away from the entrance of the cave.
Kiera fired off four grenades in rapid succession into the entrance. The grenade canisters tinked on the floor of the cave as they bounced off the rocks and further inside.
"SON OF A.....!" Came a yell from inside the cave just before the explosions went off almost at the same time.
A concussive blast radiated out from the cave as chunks of rock were blown out, causing a cave-in. The sand on the floor of the ocean was also blown back in a perfect half-circle from the entrance following the pattern of the explosion. When the sand settled and the water cleared, everyone stepped out of their cover and looked around.
"I guess it wasn't as deep as we thought," James said chuckling nervously at the blast's power.
"I don't know what those guys were thinking, but I'm fairly certain the last thing to go through their minds was shrapnel," Jay added.
A window appeared in the party's vision after everything went still again.
Defeat the Outlaws:
Defeat the outlaw Pecos Mark
1/1 Completed
Defeat the outlaw Pecos Clem
0/1 Completed
Return to town to collect rewards
0/1 Completed
That was convenient. Seeing the progress of the quest for the campaign made knowing that Pecos Mark was dead much easier. The System rarely gave out quests, this being part of a dungeon meant it was something that the System created for the dungeon to do, but it was a nice relief to be able to keep track of progress this way. Tom had played a lot of video games and quests were an intricate part of the RPG world. He wished the System worked more in that way as well.
Unable to change things of that scope, Tom just turned to his team to be sure they were ready.
"Everyone alright? Does anyone need any healing?" Tom asked, ensuring the blast hadn't had any unwanted side effects.
"I managed to dodge most of the blast, but I'd be grateful for the healing for this cut on my arm," Jay said moving to Tom and showing him the gash.
"That's actually pretty nasty looking, Jay. Hold still for a minute." Tom told him, extending his hands to cast Dark Healing.
"Yeah, I was ducking behind one of those crates when a piece of the rock clipped it. Might need a few more points in luck after all." Jay winced as he turned his arm to face Tom.
Dark purple light enveloped Tom's hands and he uttered the magic words to release the spell. The light spread to Jay's arm and the wound first stopped bleeding, then began to slowly knit back together. Tom had to cast the spell one more time to fully heal his HP, but after two castings, the wound was completely healed leaving nothing more than a tear and blood stains on Jay's sleeve to show there had ever been a wound.
"Much better. Thanks for that." Jay said, pulling his arm back and rubbing where the wound had been from the now phantom pains.
"So what's the next move?" Kiera asked.
"Pecos Clem. But he has the captives so we have to be careful when we get there. We can't just ground and pound like we did here. We are going to have to be sneaky. Jay, you are going to have the lead on this one." Tom explained. "I want stealth, I want silent kills, I want to see the surprised look on their faces when we bear down on them."
"Sure. Might I advise we wait for dark?" Jay offered. "Makes the whole thing easier."
"Good idea. We wait for the cover of dark and we go in stealthed. We get as far as we can before we are discovered, and we make this as quick as possible." Tom continued, looking to each of them in turn.
"What happens if we do get discovered?" Brian asked.
"We do what we do best. Fuck shit up." Tom replied.
"Oh, well, that's comforting. I was worried we would have a real plan." Brian mocked the idea.
"You have a better idea?" Tom asked.
"I absolutely do not. I don't get in these kinds of situations often. Never really. So what would I know about fighting off mobs of people to save innocents?" Brian asked, exhausted at the situation and the prospect of more violence. "Fuck all, that's how much."
"Hakuna your tatas, man. It'll be okay." James said to Brian, trying to calm him.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Brian just stared at James with a smoldering expression.
"Look, it's a dungeon campaign. Worst case scenario, some of them die and we still finish the objective. There wasn't anything in the objectives about saving the hostages. And, like everyone said to me, consider it practice for the real world situation." Tom said, working to calm the team.
Just as Tom said this another window popped up in their visions.
Defeat the Outlaws:
Defeat the outlaw Pecos Mark
1/1 Completed
Defeat the outlaw Pecos Clem
0/1 Completed
Save the hostages
0/15 Completed
Return to town to collect rewards
0/1 Completed
"You just can't help yourself can you?" Brian asked Tom. "Always gotta open your big fucking mouth. Guess what? It screwed us again!"
"Seriously man. Do you need a Snickers? Because you're being a diva." Tom replied.
"You fucking Americans," Brian began but cut off when there was the sound of an explosion to the north of their location.
"What the hell was that?" Kirsten asked.
"Some kind of explosion," Tom replied.
"No shit, Sherlock. I meant why did it happen?" Kirsten clarified with annoyance.
"My guess is it came from Pecos Clem's camp. We need to go check it out and then we can wait for the cover of dark." Jay offered.
"Okay, to the clammobile!" James said loudly, pointing toward the kelp forest.
When they were all loaded back up in what was essentially an underwater chariot, Tom cracked the reins and got them heading north toward Pecos Clem's camp. Tom stood there thinking about the plan for attacking Pecos Clem. When their team didn't need to worry about innocent victims getting caught in the crossfire, they made quick work of anyone in their path. Things were always more complicated when you put non-combatants into the mix.
His team wasn't polished enough to sweep through a hostage situation without too many casualties. It had always been what had given him pause on attacking The Master directly and just ending his reign. This was going to be the first real test of what they could do against someone holding hostages. The stakes were high, but they were illusory in the end. If the victims died, there were no real-world consequences other than possibly diminished rewards for the completion of the quest. Tom was beginning to feel a lot better about how closely related this situation was to the one their guild was in.
Continuing to move directly north, not following the road this time, they made better time to Pecos Clem's camp than if they had backtracked and followed the marked path. This also meant that they accidentally went too far and moved through a kelp forest and out into the opening of the camp they had been looking for.
With the plan of surprise completely gone, everything began happening all at once. The members of Clem's gang suddenly saw a gigantic half-clam shell pulled by four dolphins burst through the kelp and into their lair. Tom and his people looked out as they came upon the sudden lack of cover and their eyes went wide. There was one very distinct issue with being underwater and traveling through the oceanic equivalent of a forest. The kelp only stood up because it was reaching for the surface.
Tom had been driving the underwater chariot straight into the forest, not knowing how far to the camp. This ended with the kelp flopping over the front of the dolphin's faces and slapping everyone riding in the half-clam shell in the face repeatedly like in all the movies where someone drove a car down the side of a mountain through a densely packed forest. They had sputtered and spat to try to see where they were going, forgetting to stop, and plowed right out into the open, kelp trailing behind them as it broke off from the stalks.
Ripping pieces away from their heads to see better, Tom and his crew did the only thing they could think to do in this situation. They began screaming and panicking. Tom pulled on the reins to turn the dolphins as they raced toward a large stack of crates. Pecos Clem's men also began screaming and panicking, not sure what to do. Several were run over by the half-clam shell and were crushed to death as it bumped over their bodies, causing their insides to paint the sand, then begin puffing up into the water like smoke, tinting the area red as their density-shifters stopped working.
With the party screaming, and trying to regain control over the now runaway chariot, and Clem's gang panicking as well, the entire world began to devolve into chaos and time seemed to slow down. Tom swore he could hear classical music playing in his head as the situation continued to unfold in slow motion.
Tom had been able to turn the dolphins, but the side of the clam crashed into the stacked crates and they began to tumble. Fortunately, the spooked dolphins were in a frenzy and whipped their powerful tails up and down, their muscles flexing with each motion, propelling them forward instead of slowing. A few of Pecos Clem's gang had rallied to follow the team and fired off a couple of rounds at them before looking up at the crumbling town of crates. They screamed as the boxes fell and crushed them beneath the avalanche.
Still pulling to the left on the reins, the dolphins furiously tried to accept commands to their brains from both the desire to flee in terror and obey the commands of the one holding the reins and began swimming as fast as they could in a counter-clockwise circle. Tom suddenly realized that even he was screaming and stopped himself as he tried to regain control of the situation. Unable to do so in his inexperience driving a vehicle of this manner, he resumed his screaming and pulled out a gun.
He aimed and began firing at targets from the side of the clamshell and his scream turned from one of panic to one of rage. He let his anger at the situation, at the world loose in that moment, and unloaded on the enemy. Continuing the underwater equivalent of clam doughnuts, Tom fired and tried his best to maneuver the dolphins into positions to run over the men as well.
The others all picked up on Tom's energy and began to do the same. Soon, volleys of bullets rained down from the clam and Clem's men, who were trying to attack and dodge the speeding mollusk husk could do nothing but try to stay out of the way. More and more backup began pouring out of the cave to join the fray. Many were run down almost the moment they exited as Tom sideswiped them in a move that left him feeling like he might be able to be a member of the Torreto Family.
Suddenly, Tom turned the reins too hard and the clam slid into a single crate and began to flip over. His entire team went tumbling out of the makeshift chariot and fell to the ground, sending puffs of sand out from where they landed. The dolphins let out panicked screeches and clicks as they tried to avoid the disaster as well. Their reins finally snapped from the immense strain and they fled off into the distance.
Suddenly surrounded, the team put their hands up in surrender.
"Look, we just wanna talk to Clem. Can we do that?" Tom asked.
"The boss has been waiting for you," was all one of the fishmen said in reply as he hit Tom over the head with a club, knocking him unconscious.