We huddled in the archway as far from the detonation zone as possible. I was at the front, closest to freedom but also closest to what would be the blast. Geddon stood behind me, a wall of armored muscle upon which my insides would be tastefully splattered if I’d done this wrong. The giant’s role would be to clear any debris my explosion might leave behind while everyone else got the survivors down into the hole and then themselves.
Geddon was also the tallest among us, and now served as Trix’s new perch, where he stood upright, ears perked all the way up and whiskers twitching. He’d tell us if there were any undead near.
Behind them, the three survivors huddled close together, the old woman and the boy as well as the sweaty, round shopkeeper. Sissa and Samila brought up the rear, Sissa with her eyes on me, Samila looking into the darkness behind.
I looked up at Trix, waiting. I didn’t speak, though. I needed Trix’s sharp hearing just now. The Volpa’s ears turned like twin satellite dishes following a moving signal.
After a tense moment, Trix gave me the signal, which was just a hand wave. They didn’t seem to use “thumbs up” on Ralqir, and I’d been looked at as a bumpkin for having to have it explained to me. How was I supposed to know not every species had thumbs?
I nodded, starting the countdown on my fingers. The others covered their ears.
Three…
Two…
One…
I blew out a long, slow breath. This needed to be flawless.
*PHOW*
It wasn’t the earth shattering explosion I’d done for Bole and his group. This was more of a high pitched, tinnitus inducing peal of miniature thunder that, if I wasn’t an Exotic now a’days, would have probably affected my enjoyment of certain types of music later in life. Dust and wood splinters flew up in a vertical plume, nearly to the ceiling twenty feet above.
I was moving before gravity had a chance to let any of the particulates settle, bounding into the hub at a sprint. I spared a glance for my turret that was on the far edge of the room to my left, overlooking the trap door and the approach from four separate archways.
My breath caught in my throat as I looked down the barrel, my life flashing before my eyes in the two steps it took to get past, but then the moment was behind me as I hurried on. The barrel didn’t track me. The auto-turret just stood there, a spider, poised, silently watching for prey that entered its web.
I knew it wouldn’t shoot me. I’d tested it earlier. However, I couldn’t bring myself to trust my Automation process completely… not just yet. Maybe that said something about how much I trusted myself.
Over the ringing in my ears, I heard the distant, echoing howls of the scourge-touched. They began just as I arrived at the blast site at a full sprint, sliding to a stop next to the heavy wooden countertop we’d laid over the charge to muffle the sound somewhat. It was in a few triangular pieces now.
The undead’s calls were faint.
Doesn’t sound too close. We might just have time.
Geddon got there right behind me. With a grunt, he flung the pieces aside to reveal the damage I’d done.
My heart, such as it was, stilled.
“What is it? Why have we stopped?” Sissa asked. The sound of her sword leaving her sheath grated across my already tender eardrums.
The shaped charge just laid there across the quellstone bricks, all of them fully intact.
Impossible.
Disbelief flooded my mind. I shook my head and reached down to pick it up.
Transfer Spent Shaped Charge to spatial storage? Y/N
I felt numb. This should have worked. I did it right, didn’t I? Did I just get all these people killed?
I chose “Yes.”
The band of warm metal disappeared with a dim flash.
Sissa pushed to the front of the group, holding her sword above her head. “What are we doing? Someone say something. They’re coming!”
I squinted at the…
Oh.
There, in a neat, arm-length line about two inches wide, the quellstone bricks were simply gone. My shaped charge had done its job so well, it sheared the trap door so neatly, that the magic was the only thing keeping them together.
“It’s not open! It is, indeed, a good day to die!” Geddon bellowed. Did he have to sound so excited about it?
“Oh, Light’s mercy, please,” the old woman sobbed, falling down to her knees next to me.
“Damnit. Circle up, warriors. Put the civilians in the center,” Sissa ordered.
Well, shit.
“Duty and mercy! Duty and mercy!” Sissa chanted, that strange, bright power infusing her words. It ran through my blood, infused my muscles, and brightened the dark corners of my psyche.
There… There was a gap in the stones. I’d made a gap. I could work with this.
I started breathing again.
“I’m going to need a minute, Sergeant!” I declared, crouching down on the stones to check for any amount of give. Nothing.
“Not like we have a choice, monk,” she growled. “Work quickly.”
Forcing my breathing to slow, I stuck my prosthetic fingers inside the gap.
Iron Grip [1MP/sec]
Bracing my feet, I pulled, flexing my back and extending my legs. I heaved with all my might.
It didn’t give in the slightest. It was like they were still part of a floor. Whatever magic this was, it was solid. I was working with an unknown here.
“Here they come!” Trix yipped from somewhere.
I looked up, still straining to get the quellstone to move, even just to jiggle. I was lucky enough to look at the right archway as the first pale figure shot into the light, using its arms and legs to run like an ape, bare feet and palms slapping on the cobblestones, filthy, ragged clothes flapping against its body. As it broke into the light, its dead eyes widened at the sight of me, and its mouth yawned to broadcast its special brand of hatred to the world.
With strength I hadn’t realized the Returned had, it bent its knees and leapt high into the air to bypass the guards and get straight to me.
Samila, the shield on that side of the circle, shuffled to the right and tensed her body to receive the charge. I saw her knees slightly bend, boots angled to absorb the kinetic energy. She didn’t get that chance, however.
From the corner of my eye, I saw the barrel of the auto-turret, impossibly fast, jerk to life, a spider seizing upon unaware prey. It snapped its aim dead center on its target, just like it was programmed to do.
*FWUP* *FWUP* *FWUP* *FWUP* *FWUP*
The metal walls of the firing chamber were thick, and the barrel was precisely built, so the sound of the tiny explosions happening in the action were muted. Most of the sound came from the hypersonic ball bearings ringing through the barrel and the snapping of collapsing air pockets in the rounds’ wakes. Superfluous propellant energy bled from the action and the barrel with every ignition, a dangerous violet cloud of extra explosive potential, the brightness of which leaving floating spots in my vision.
The turret scored three hits, even as the pale Returned flew toward us. The first two rounds hit it in the side of the rib cage right under the creature’s armpit. Bone cracked, the significant force applied by the spherical projectiles setting the undead’s body into a spin while black blood blossomed from pulverized meat. The final round, caught it under the jaw, where the throat connected to the head. Splintered bone and pulverized brain matter blew out of the top of the creature’s skull, and the light went out of its eyes.
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The body flopped limply at Samila’s feet, sliding to a stop, not quite having the inertia to hit her shield anymore.
Scourge Touched Undead defeated.
You have been awarded 3 experience points. [16 base (-2 level, +2 nemesis, -13 non-combat class)]
*FWUP* *FWUP*
The turret put a couple more rounds into the scourge-touched’s body for good measure. Perhaps it had detected an errant twitch in the creature’s nervous system, or my programming was shoddy. Hard to tell.
Everyone just kind of paused at that moment, staring at the broken body.
Judging by the looks on everyone’s faces, they were shocked, terrified, hopeful… Geddon barked out a laugh.
For my part I was relieved that… well… that it worked at all.
All eyes slowly drifted to me, and I pretended to be very engrossed in getting the door open. The old woman was still weeping, holding her grandson close, maybe for multiple reasons now. The shopkeeper wiped his handkerchief nervously over his sweating brow but avoided looking directly my way.
It was oddly quiet among the living. The howls were growing closer, but I could still feel the eyes on me. I glanced up to see Samila looking me over, a strange, hungry look on her face. “I want one, Sis,” she declared matter of factly.
I felt my cheeks flush. I couldn’t articulate why.
“Same,” Geddon shot back with a vicious laugh.
“Get your own, meatshield.”
“He can make more.”
“That’s n-”
Sissa hissed to quiet them. “Shut up, and watch your angles. Monk, where are we on the door?”
I shook my head and went back to work, stealing one last glance at Samila.
Did she just wink at me?
I put it out of my mind. There wasn’t time for that. I reached down and took hold of the magical bricks yet again. I’d been avoiding this, but other than triggering another huge explosion with no guarantee of success, I was out of ideas.
Trix heard them before we saw them. “Here they come! Watch out!”
Devouring Grasp [ 5 MP/sec]
You gain knowledge of material: Quellstone. [1/10]
With a *crack* the two bits of stone within my palm gave way, and disintegrated into a cloud of black motes.
Cold fingers wrapped themselves around my core, my lungs, my stomach, my brainstem, and they squeezed. Spots danced in my vision. The blood in my veins thickened to a sludge. I felt slow. Lethargic. Like I was encased in ice, and my body was giving into hypothermia.
A terrible, agonized groan ripped its way out of me, and I slumped to the floor.
—--------------------
Gibbering. Howling. Snarling. Cries of rage. Someone roared.
*FWUP* *FWUP* *FWUP* *FWUP* *FWUP* *FWUP*
Scourge Touched Undead defeated.
You have been awarded 35 experience points. [16 base (-2 level, +2 nemesis, +16 group, + 16 chain, -13 non-combat class)]
Scourge Touched Undead defeated.
You have been awarded 35 experience points. [16 base (-2 level, +2 nemesis, +16 group, + 16 chain, -13 non-combat class)]
I came back to life in the middle of dying.
“Brother Ryan!” Trix was there, his clawed fingers on the sides of my face. I felt hollow. My head throbbed.
HP [92/105]
MP [0/75]
Status lost: Mana Sap
Status gained: Underfed [-2 mind, -2 body]
The world was a swirling vortex of violence.
The unhealthy white of the scourge-touched streamed in from the archways. Long limbs and snarling faces bathed in pale light from the glow lamps above. I watched as three blurry undead swarmed over one another to charge the gray smudge that was Geddon before their bodies were torn apart by a swarm of angry supersonic impacts.
To my right, the lead Returned in a pack that was currently bearing down on Sissa took an unfortunate round in the arm that snapped the bone in half just as it put its full weight on it, causing the creature to tumble forward and trip those behind it. They piled up for only a second, but that was all it took for my auto-turret to decimate their numbers. The pile of creatures became a sagging mound of pulped meat as ball bearings zipped in from the right and cut through multiple bodies before continuing on to ruin someone else’s day.
*FWUP* *FWUP* *FWUP* *FWUP* *FWUP* *FWUP*
Scourge Touched Undead defeated.
You have been awarded 35 experience points. [16 base (-2 level, +2 nemesis, +16 group, + 16 chain, -13 non-combat class)]
Scourge Touched Undead defeated.
You have been awarded 35 experience points. [16 base (-2 level, +2 nemesis, +16 group, + 16 chain, -13 non-combat class)]
…
Scourge Touched Undead defeated.
You have been awarded 35 experience points. [16 base (-2 level, +2 nemesis, +16 group, + 16 chain, -13 non-combat class)]
Geddon roared in the scourge-touched’s faces, hacking at those lucky enough to get into range. Sissa and Samila were slightly more measured, choosing to take a blow on their shields and to then follow up with a riposte that slipped between ribs or sliced throats.
“He’s okay!” Trix shouted. “Come on, Brother. On your feet.”
“Ugh.” I said as I pushed myself up into a sitting position. My MP was gone, and my head pounded. I summoned a piece of scrapped furniture wood and Consumed it.
You gain knowledge of material: Mendau Wood [61/1,250]
Status gained: Engine [3 MP/sec for 30 minutes]
I wanted to vomit. I might have.
“Are you back with us, Brother Ryan?” Trix asked with evident concern.
“I’m here. Just… damn.”
Consume Mendau Wood? Y/N
Status gained; Engine [3 MP/sec for 60 minutes]
“What are we going to do? Can we get through?” Trix asked.
“Hold them off, Trix,” I croaked. “I’m gonna need time.” I summoned my pistol and a handful of ammo worms, holding them out for Trix to take. “Remember what I said.”
The Volpa looked down at the weapon with trepidation. He shuddered. “Uh. Point and shoot. Right?”
“Right. Save it for when you need it.”
Mercifully, the Returned were still streaming in, not coming in overwhelming numbers as of yet. We couldn’t count on that to continue, though.
All the while, the sound of the turret never ceased.
*FWUP* *FWUP* *FWUP* *FWUP*
Scourge Touched Undead defeated.
You have been awarded 35 experience points. [16 base (-2 level, +2 nemesis, +16 group, + 16 chain, -13 non-combat class)]
Scourge Touched Undead defeated.
You have been awarded 35 experience points. [16 base (-2 level, +2 nemesis, +16 group, + 16 chain, -13 non-combat class)]
MP [58/75]
More often than not, as one of the guards engaged with a feral undead, their opponent would be cut down by a hail of fire from the turret, dropping it before swords had a chance to strike. Bodies with black, weeping holes were piling up around our protective circle while our group of survivors huddled next to me, not daring to look at the battle unfolding. I saw the kid trying to take a couple peeks, but he didn’t like what he saw, burying his head on his grandmother’s shoulder.
I reached out and took hold of another stone.
“Oh no. You can’t,” Trix said, reaching out to stop me, but he was too late.
Devouring Grasp [5 MP/sec]
You gain knowledge of material: Quellstone. [2/10]
Status lost: Engine
I did vomit this time. Engine guttered and died, and my MP ticked down five points at a time. My lungs seized inside of me.
Status gained: Mana Sap
Consume Mendau Wood? Y/N
Consume Mendau Wood? Y/N
Consume Mendau Wood? Y/N
It took three more pieces of wood to get my Engine humming again before I bottomed out my MP. I shivered and wiped sweat from my face.
I felt like hammered shit.
Do it again.
I summoned another few handfuls of wood to get ready for the next round.
Devouring Grasp [5 MP/sec]
You gain knowledge of material: Quellstone. [3/10]
Status lost: Engine
Consume Mendau Wood? Y/N
It went on like that. Every time I would Consume another bit of quellstone, it would… kill… my mana. I wasn’t sure how else to put it. One moment I was humming along, precious, vital blue energy flowing through me, then the quellstone did something. It blackened what it touched, withered it. Extinguished.
I’m not sure how long I rode that rollercoaster of pain. Minutes, probably. It felt like a lifetime.
The undead were turning from a stream into a full blown flood, too many to count, not from down on the floor like I was. The stink of their blood dominated my senses.
*THWOK* *THWOK* *THWOK* *THWOK* *THWOK*
It was hard to hear the bark of the action on the turret now above the screams of the undead and the wall of corpses between me and my construct. What did reach me was the disturbing slap of metal on flesh and splintering of bone as the piercing projectiles did their gruesome work.
I tried not to think about how these were all people.
Get them out. Get them out then you can think about it.
I used what I had to get us out of here. I killed. I Consumed. I killed the Dark Lord’s creations. Consumed the Dark Lord’s legacy.
And it cost me.
My body and soul withered before my eyes. The veins under my skin were dark, spider webbing roots that burned every time I reignited my Engine, every time they came back from whatever brink I’d pushed them to.
Affinity Type: Quellstone is now grade F.
Core Ability gained: Detect Quellstone [Radius: 10 feet]
Resistance to Mana Sap increased. [ERROR:M_Type_&#%R^_AuthorityNotFound]
Resolving…
You gain knowledge of material: Quellstone. [1/50]
Status lost: Engine
Consume Mendau Wood? Y/N
You gain knowledge of material: Quellstone. [2/50]
Consume Mendau Wood? Y/N
…
You gain knowledge of material: Quellstone. [26/50]
ERROR:M_Type_&#%R^_AuthorityNotFound resolved:
Core Ability gained: Tempered Channels
Something happened at that point. Whatever mojo that kept the stones together finally fell apart. Something gave, like the power being cut from an electromagnet, and the rest of the bricks blocking our escape tunnel collapsed under me. I found myself tumbling painfully down a set of uneven stairs along with a pile of quellstone rubble.
“He’s got it!” Trix yelled triumphantly on my behalf.
Sissa didn’t waste any time. “Everyone inside!”