Second Battle of the Red Mist I_Path of the Ogre: Berserker

Chapter Seventeen

The Second Battle of the Red Mists I

Anxiety made Ogre’s belly churn as the red mist seeped under the heavy ironwood door, oozing through gaps around the edges like a thick glossy slime that swelled to the size of a beast’s skull then popped becoming a true fog once more. The otters responded instantly, weapons sliding into or pulled into paws almost before their eyes were open, sabatons pushing under them barely a heartbeat after that. They stiffened as one creature at the sight of the strange red mist, recalling the desperate fight just months ago. Visionary allowed Ogre to see well beyond the door of the canteen into the yawning bunker beyond, with its large stone columns and mostly empty space. The fog interfered with his sight to a greater extent than even stone. However, Ogre saw shapes in the mists, scores more shapes in what seemed like ranks, lining up outside the Canteen.

“They are organizing in lines just outside the door,” Ogre informed the party, “We will need to attack them before they are ready.”

“It might be a trap!” Said Orda,

“Likely,” Ogre said, “However, if they are set, they will be harder to fight as a company. We fought them very nearly one on one on the road, and they decimated us.”

“You will have to be the one.” Said Xendaranan, “Vedana and Aida have the most health, but your power and your ability to survive is…better than simple stats.”

“I can go with you.” Said Vedana, “Or I can go by myself, You can do ranged healing if I get in trouble.”

“This might be a better Ploy. Send me. Captain you are our eyes, risking you would not be wise.” Said Orda, “But my shield will increase my survivability!”

“No, Orda.” Said Ogre, “You are our tank, you can hold our ground when the others fall, you have shown that you can do this despite having inferior health, durability, and vitality to the damage dealers. I will be the one to go. I can survive damage more than ninety-nine times my health, which does not account for my durability. My health and base vigor are middling and poor compared with you lot, however my damage potential is nearly two orders of magnitude greater than the least of you and nearly one order higher than Aida.”

They grew quiet, soaking in the astonishing, but emotionless words. Orda, responded first, “We will be here, holding the door, I’ll take point after you do your charge.”

Ogre grunted peering at his paws one bare and the other gauntleted. Vedana tried to drop a black iron axe into them, but Ogre shook his head.

“Black iron won’t be enough to match my bare paw damage.”

Ogre ignored their amazed looks and swept through the door. Crossbow bolts slammed into the ironwood as the dog engaged Hunter’s dash. Visionary allowed him to see the vague, but telltale shapes of crossbow monsters waiting and taking aim and so he knew to dodge. The mists made the first and nearest company of monster ranks a hazy square, twenty monsters across, each as short as he was in the tower and half as broad, but the formation was already twice as deep, as they were across. Their armour gleamed too brightly for black iron, and though they shuffled bringing shields up, they did not break rank when they saw him strolling like a hulk of iron-shod meat and power from the canteen.

Ogre went after the crossbow goblins first, leaping over lines of the scrawny green monsters, with oversized heads, and bulbous red eyes, and leaving devastation in the form of twisted monster bodies. He learned quickly that it took too much time to even dent the steel that they wore, but he was strong enough to easily break necks and shatter faces with well-placed punches. He avoided the shield-bearing goblin soldiers as it took too long for him to break them, with their armour and aegis, and they wielded spears that they could harry him with. He was faster than they were as a hillock was larger than a pebble, and he was durable enough that the goblins were only able to scratch him. However, it was the mists that was his greatest ally. Ogre slew dozens in less than a minute, but he bowled over ranks of goblin soldiers sowing chaos, he slew a few of them and avoided the stronger leaders among them.

Seeing the health of the gremlin sergeant and their stats, the dog felt a strong desire to slay them as quickly as he could. He was sure that one of them wouldn’t be much of a challenge but there were still so many goblins and eventually they would wear him down enough for the stronger monsters to slay him. And even within the mist Ogre saw the stats of monsters in army, stronger than the gremlins. Slipping in the mists, Ogre decided on a skill that would best scatter the monsters. The dog unleashed a twelve-fold combination of punches that knocked away a dozen the goblin soldiers surrounding a gremlin sergeant. A lucky strike allowed him to punch through the eye of one of them monsters and crush the throat and spine of another slaying them instantly with high critical hits. The gremlin attacked with a steel xiphos and kite shield with such savage speed and power, that it caught him in the middle of dealing with last goblin. The passive skill, Blindsight Dodge allowed him to slip among the blows with even greater ease than he had, in his fight with the Arachanthrope.

The gremlin foamed at the mouth, in its frenzy to slay Ogre, it skin darkening to a deep scarlet in its fervor. Hunter’s Dash allowed him to rush by it, grab the monster’s armoured torso from behind and lift it high for the strongest crowd control skill that he had: Lambasting Powerbomb. The monster in his paws floated a bit higher, his unbridled strength making its weight in steel plate negligible; then he slammed it down on the stone ground. The world about him went white as the gremlin blew apart in his paws, steel warping from the heat of light, fire, and lightning as gusts and flows of elemental, strange, fundamental and other energies rolling out from an instant massive crater, that grew ever larger from the point where he threw the monster down.

Stone became rubble and rubble pulverized to dust and smoke within a hundred paces of the dog. The ground and stone columns as large around as a small manor shattered in part, or was marred by deep, stride-wide cracks. The cracks went on to cross nearly the breadth of the sprawling bunker, causing chunks of earth and stone to fall from the ceiling, crushing hapless goblins and wounding their captains and commanders. Panic choked Ogre, and he sweated as he blinked through the dark of mist and lightless, smoke-filled space. Visionary winked out with a painful lurch just after the dog slammed the monster down, stunning him for a second. The heroic skill also depleted his vigor points to zero, confusing Ogre. It had not done that before. He could not engage Visionary again, at least not immediately. He stumbled around in the crater, blinking slowly, snorting to clear his nose of the stench of broken and blasted monster bodies, blood, stone and overpowering dust. In minutes, the smoke settled, the world about him stopped groaning, and shaking, and the dog could hear the groans and cries of the monsters that survived.

Ogre flinched at an abrupt noise nearby, then blinked as a shifting stone and rock rolled into him nearly knocking him from his feet. The darkness swallowed his vision, and his skill could not activate without vigor points. He fumbled around in the dark headed towards his best approximation of where the canteen had been. The dog made sure to attack the monsters far away from the structure, but Ogre underestimated the power of the skill. He had not meant to use all of his vigor points, he did not even consider that he could make it more powerful than it already was in the spider warrens. Especially not without leveling it or himself up. The dog stepped on armoured limbs and nearly tripped on the chunks of stone the clustered within the crater. It was slow going, as Ogre had to feel his way through the dark, but the crater was ridiculously large. He was not free of it or the waves of shattered rings beyond it, until a two pawful of minutes crept by. At the edge of it, the monsters groaned and shifted away from him, hearing him coming. The dead were meat wrapped around bone in his inventory. Ogre scowled at the thought, he did not recall eating the flesh of goblins, but he could not imagine that it tasted good. They smelled like an open sepulcher, with the body too long above the earth, but not long enough to be rid of its decaying juices.

Some weapons, spears, and short side swords, cut and stabbed at him. Blindsight dodge did not activate, as he was bereft of vigor points, but wielded by goblins they barely scratched him. After the spiders, he did not consider how hardiness would affect him in battle. Their fangs pierced his black iron around with ease and so even with high durability, they could dig their fangs deep into his form with just as much ease. Ogre shuddered at the memory and tried to move faster. The darkness was wearing on him, he was not used to being blind after acquiring Visionary. I will have to consider my stats more carefully than I have before, especially in this dark environment. Having so much vigor and consequently vigor points has made me wasteful. Something slid on rubble near him and his heart pounded. It sounded so much like carapace sliding on stone! Ogre immediately lashed out, striking nothing but air. Still, the force of the blow, made a wind that shifted smaller bits of stone and made goblins close enough to ear, scramble back. He knew that they were goblins because every gremlin that he ever met would attack him with wild abandon.

His flesh squirmed at the feel of many eyes watching him, and a long low moan, rung from his throat, despite his best efforts to push the fear down. Panic made his movements slow and his body stiffen, until he shuffled, sliding black iron sabaton and paw over the stone with a teeth-grinding sound. Abruptly, a golden light sprung up so bright that it lit the space well behind him. Ogre spun towards it, too relieved to feel frustration at the fact that only then had he realized that he was walking away from the canteen. His stiffness was immediately replaced with a need to get back to his party. The light became his beacon, he ran and leapt for it, several thousand paces crossed in barely a second. He slid past and crashed into the stone of the canteen another hundred paces behind them. However, he came strolling from the small alcove his body made in the eating chamber, with a huge grin on his face.

“Thank the King of Sea Dogs that Swims in the Blue Sky!” Aida said looking immensely relieved to find the dog, unharmed. “What took you so long to get back?”

“We were…not worried…not too much!” Said Vedana, looking stern as she tried to peer deeper into the darkness out before them.

Orda saluted Ogre gauntlet to muzzle, “How was your hunting?”

Ogre strolled closer feeling the nape of his neck bristle as his fur stood on end. “I slew just a fraction of them, but I think we should retreat. There are others that are a lot stronger than the common goblin Paw soldier commanding them. They are not to be under…”-

Aida swung her black iron greatsword at Ogre’s chest in a terrific horizontal slash. Without blindsight dodge or quick retreat he quickly fell into a low crouch, which allowed the huge blade to pass over his monstrous head so close he could feel the air curling about it. The dog’s roar for an explanation died on his tongue when he heard, the tell-tale clang of metal striking metal and felt the tip of a blade riffle the fur across the middle of his back as something was knocked away from him. Aida charged past him, quickly, nearly as agile as Xendaranan or Vedana and was upon the gremlin sergeant before he could rise. The tip of the greatsword slammed deep into the open-faced helmet with a sickening crunch of teeth, bone, and the gurgle of pinkish green juices. It was likely gremlin blood intermingled with cerebral spinal fluids. Aida’s hard face turned to Ogre and nodded, before slowly turning back to the gremlin as if realizing the kind of monster, she killed so easily. It was a gremlin. And it looked nearly identical to the same gremlin that slew Glaeddra, lifting her body high before tossing it at them, as a beast would a river stone. She had been the strongest of the otters on the road of beginnings.

Her gauntlets trembled, as she stared at the monster, tears suddenly leaking from the one eye that Ogre could see with her profile. The dog saw her mouth the word strong lit by the glow of Xendaranan’s Aegis. Orda took a step towards her, before he too stopped and stared down at the monster. Did they have nightmares about it? Ogre thought. Did they truly understand how far in level, in strength and power they came since they were faced with what seemed inevitable death? I don’t know if I do.

“It’s time to go.” Said Ogre, “The leaders of the army before us will regroup their soldiers, if they catch us out in the open the way we are now, they will slay us.”

Vedana and Xendaranan were the first to give their assent and only spared the dead gremlin passing glances. Orda recovered faster than Aida, and pulled her away. She resisted him for a moment scrubbing the back of her gauntlet across her face before shaking off the tank’s armoured paws, softening the gesture with a grateful nod to the beast then strolling to take her place among the party. Ogre gave her the respect she deserved by not mentioning her reaction, but he could not help but flash her a huge grin of thanks. Her returning smile was small and embarrassed the expression on the rest of her face, pleased. She saved me. Ogre thought, as he directed Xendaranan to keep to the center, while he and Vedana took the lead with Orda and Aida guarding the flank. The aegis that Xendaranan employed was brighter than it had been when it was first used in the sewers. The spearbeast explained that it leveled up in the spider warrens twice, allowing him to hold it indefinitely if no damage was transferred to it, while at the same time increased its ability to protect. It could stop or slow projectiles and even stone chunks, as the party found out, when Ogre performed his heroic skill, and nearly leveled the canteen. Ashamed at his recklessness, Ogre apologized immediately, but the others just looked away as if they had been teasing the dog.

The shield was more useful than ever. It pushed living enemies, with broken limbs or bruised bodies out of the way but allowed rubble to pass through it. The party slew only the monsters that were in their direct path or close enough that they did not have to leave the safety of the half sphere of golden light. If the monster resisted too much or if it fled, they let it be, preferring not to be bogged down at any one point for more than a pawful of seconds.

“My skill: Visionary, the one that allowed me to see through walls and in the deepest darkness, is inactive right now.” Ogre said, “I will have to wait until my vigor points regenerate in order to use it or any other skill again.”

“Understood.” Said Orda, a little too quickly.

The rest said nothing, but Xendaranan stood a little taller realizing that their ability to navigate the dark recesses of the underground space would all be down to his aegis. Ogre understood their nervousness all too easily, with his ability to see great stretches of the sewers he was able to determine how the monsters would attack, the sort of monsters there would be and how to best defend during the battle. Having that priceless skill gone hurt the party. The dog ground his teeth at his foolishness. How could I not know that would happen? Because it did not happen the first time you did it? The dog snorted but did not respond to the too logical rebuttal to his self-abuse. Instead, he spoke to his party, “Their armour is better than ours, it would be best if we could don it before we have to face the threat of a concentrated effort by them.”

“I think the Status Archaia can reshape armour to the host’s form, from monster loot.” Said Vedana, “We learned that pretty early on.”

Ogre considered it, wanting to smack himself in the head. How did the tower know, or was it his status mirror? How did either know his measurements for the armour it provided? Why am I asking such mundane questions of a system that can manipulate time and space with ease or provide supranormal levels of strength by slaying monsters? Does any of this make sense?

Yes.

“That makes sense.”

“We learned it from the Tutorial Levels, Captain.” Aida said.

“It’s inferior to the work of a black smith though.” Xendaranan explained, “There is a penalty if the stats’ affecting armour is not overwhelmingly higher than the requirements. I forget how much more though.”

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“It’s an additional fifty percent.” Said Orda, “I do not think it will matter much to us as we are now. I suspect only extremely ponderous metals or legendary-class ore plate, will give us trouble.”

“Good. Is everyone capable of leveling up…if so how far can you increase your level right now?” Asked Ogre.

“Fifteen for me.” Aida said,

“Thirteen here,” said Vedana.

“Nine…though, yes it’s ten now,” Orda said, pulling his black iron shortsword from the face plate of a goblin, after piercing a wobbling gelatinous eye so deeply with his short sword that his gauntlet touched the ruptured conjunctiva.

“I’m still at ten.” Xendaranan piped in, sounding a bit glum. His position did not allow him to slay goblins as they walked.

“Two more, for me.” Aida said, helpfully.

Vedana made a sound of contentedness, as she said, “I just added four.”

Aida whipped her head towards the other warrior. “Is that a challenge?”

“No.” Ogre interrupted, he kept his eyes forward, peering as far as his eyes could peer without the aid of skills into the dark. “I want you all to always have at least one level set for emergencies. However, do not level right now, we cannot be distracted. I think I see where I want us to go a few hundred paces a head, we will need to veer to right, though.”

“Your perception is…”- Orda began,

-“Scary,” Said Vedana,

-“Inspiring,” Aida said,

-“Ridiculous!” interjected Xendaranan, before quickly adding, “In the best way, of course, captain.”

“Thank you.” Ogre said, dryly. “Now Aida, you will use the armour that the gremlin sergeant had on, your inventory should have received it as loot, correct? Who will you give the short sword and shield to? Unless…will you keep those also?”

Aida unequipped her torn and rent iron armour and equipped the new plate, as easily as thinking about the actions, but she hesitated to call forth the weapons, saying, “I like my greatsword, the reach is too useful…it will be hard to recover from not having it…even if I am using a weapon from a stronger ore. I will give the shield to Orda as he is best with it and the sword to Vedana, so as to not play favorites.”

She grinned as she said the last bit and Ogre blinked…that was a joke. When did they change so quickly to deal with the stress of imminent battle and possible death? How long ago was the spider warrens? Did that fear abate so easily from them? And what about the first horror of true battle in the red mists? Barely a month or so ago, a gremlin at level one decimated dozens of their peers with ease and now just one of them, Aida, slew a level 10,000 gremlin with relative ease. It was jarring but pleasing to the dog. The strength of their party was a real thing! It was not just him saving their lives.

“The armour from the gremlin I slew was damaged by the skill, so I won’t use it. I considered trying out sword and shield, as both are cast steel and of a higher grade than the mundane steel that the goblins used for plate, swords, shields and spears. However, I will give those up too. Vedana, I know that you are used to dual-wielding but I think you should try sword and shield with Orda. And Aida you can just give both shield and sword to Orda. I’ll give my pair to Vedana. And Oh yes, Xendaranan I have a spear for you.”

“I’d like to try out two spears if that is fine with you. Captain.”

“You will be careful Xendaranan. Learning a new way of fighting in the middle of a battle can be a new way of dying very quickly. If you feel overwhelmed, drop one spear or better yet toss it into the enemy and just use the other, as you are more familiar with that style.”

“Yes, Captain,” He responded, “Still, please don’t worry, overmuch, I was able to watch how Vedana fought, and I think I got the hang of it.”

Ogre nodded before speaking again. “Don your new armour and weapons, we will make our stand once we find a defensible location.”

Pro: 112,000

Req: Vit+End 3500

Wt: 400

Pro: 224,000

Req: Vit+End 14,000

Wt: 800

Pro: 448,000

Req: Vit+End 28,000

Wt: 1600

Pro: 84,000

Req: Vit+End 5250

Wt: 300

Pro: 84,000

Req: Vit+End 5250

Wt: 300

Pro: 84,000

Req: Vit+End 5250

Wt: 300

Pro: 224,000

Req: Vit+End 7000

Wt: 800

Pro: 336,000

Req: Vit+End 5250

Wt: 1200

Full Armour Protection: 15,800,400

Slash: 90%

Pierce: 85%

Crush: 75%

Blunt: 80%

Bruise: 90%

With that they entered a beast made hall, just tall enough to admit Ogre’s towering form, and too narrow to allow another beast next to the dog to walk side by side. At the end of the wall was a chamber that was a fraction of the size of the canteen had been. Beyond a thick, mostly intact, ironwood door led a dank expanse that descended into a darkness that not even Aegis could fully penetrate. Stone steps, protected by a painted iron railing, clustered with strange mushrooms descended into that vast chasm. The dog glanced curiously at the fungi, recalling a quest, and remembering how he sequestered mushrooms in the beginning of the spider’s domain, well above where they were now.

Ogre looked them each in the eye, before speaking solemnly, “We have a choke point, a place to regroup, and an avenue of retreat. This is it. I dare not hope for something better. In fact, it’s hard to believe we found such a perfect place.”

Orda, uncharacteristically grinned. Vedana and Xendaranan nodded. But only Aida spoke, in a flat tone, “We will slay many of them.”

The wait for the commencement of battle stretched for hours. The monsters sent scouts first, to seek out the entrance to the where the party waited. They must have scoured nearly every square pace of the sprawling bunker, as it took a long time for the smaller goblins to even find them. The party took turns keeping guard, and when the first few groups of scouts foolishly tried to peer down hall, the dog or an otter would take them through the eye, mouth, or throat, with weapon or paw. Eventually, they must have figured it out, when the scouts did not return or perhaps a more cunning goblin stayed back and allowed its fellows to search closer. Either way, the army of greenskins began forming up twenty paces from the entrance to the hall. This too took a while.

“I will go first.” Said Ogre as he watched goblins get into their ranks, between the thick iron wood and the stone sides of the doorframe; they were spurred by gremlins and hobgoblins to move more quickly, as if feeling just as impatient as the dog. “When I tire, one or two of you will take my place. We will trade places in a rotation depending on how well we can hold out. We don’t need any heroes, do not overstay your vigor, if you need to be replaced retreat a few paces, and drum your shield or weapon against your armour and cry out for a replacement.”

“Those who are waiting can deal with the goblins who squeeze past.” Orda added, “Especially when you are resting Captain. We’re not as large as you are.”

Ogre nodded to the otter, and gave him a flash of his massive white canines. Despite the smile the dog could not stop the scent of nervousness that he gave off. The dog was not sure that he could survive the sprawling army and the otters had to know it. Ogre breathed in deep, feeling his heart pound at the thick scent of fear and determination that the otters gave off. Perhaps, they can’t perceive my wavering heart over the roar of their fear? I must be better than I am. I have to stand strong for them! The scents from the thousands of enemy monsters were more confusing. There was fear, and terror, but it was hard to guess if it was for the dog’s party or their captains and commanders. Excitement, bloodlust, a wild scent that burned his nose, and a cloying scent that settled on his tongue like burs on vulnerable skin, made a near maddening swirl of scents that mixed with the awful stench of their unsanitary bodies. Ogre nearly staggered at the powerful wave of smell, but he planted his sabatons and faced the army, eyes forward.

A deep bass voice rung out, rolling over the sounds of tens of thousands of goblins and worse shifting in their ranks. Two gremlin captains stepped up, followed by a score of goblins wielding long spears and round shields. The first gremlin brandished a knightly sword of carbon steel, and a large kite shield of the same ore. Full heavy plate mail of cast steel, thicker than even the other gremlins that Ogre faced, weighted the creature down by half again the dog’s armour. However, it along with it’s companion, glided along with a relative ease. The second gremlin wielded a larger and heavier broadsword, but it’s kite shield was a bit smaller. With a startling yowl of fury both gremlins shot forward to overwhelm Ogre. They were faster than the dog thought they would be, but he was stronger and faster than they were. Ogre wielded two side swords, taken from slain goblins when he first engaged the enemy. Despite not having blindsight dodge activate due to his lack of vigor points, the dog found it easy to mimic some of those uncanny movements at a fraction of it’s power, due to his high agility and speed. He slipped about thrusts and parried their blades at the crosstrees, his limbs blurring as they attacked with an incredible ferocity. The first gremlin was savage, but these held that savagery in check, playing it relatively safe and so Ogre could not cause them to overextend easily.

They attacked with shields also, blocking with near expertise just as readily, which became masterful as the two fought at the same time. Ogre was conservative, trying to pace himself but they were relentless and would not go down without risk. A feint from Ogre’s left blade drew in the broadsword gremlin, the dog’s right blade disengaged with the other gremlin’s sword and lanced for the first’s eyeslits so quickly that it pierced the monster’s eye, despite it reacting by blocking high with it’s shield. The second gremlin saved it’s companion’s life by shield bashing Ogre’s arm with what seemed all it’s strength, causing’s Ogre’s sword to cut through the lateral bones of the pierced orbital sparing it’s brain. The dog kicked the wounded gremlin away with a booming sound that launched him over the army; snarling at the second, he whirled to finish the monster with both swords, when a cluster of spears slammed into his armour from the goblins that came with the gremlins. The cuirass held with ease, but the second gremlin darted away with Ogre distracted. In his fury he forgot to conserve, and he laid into the goblins attacking him. Spears were shorn off below the steel heads, goblins were broken and flung about as if the dog was a storm. In a handful of minutes the twenty were either dead or dying. Ogre ignored the banners denoting their deaths and whirled about looking for more foes. The space about him was clear, but goblins charged the hall behind him, swirling around him as a river would a great stone.

His anger burned hotter, and his vigor drained faster but he moved like lightning cloaked in flesh. He leapt high, easily three times his height with no effort and even though the spears followed him, in his bare flesh the goblins could not pierce him without using every bit of power that they had, in armour they had little chance. He crashed among them, smashing aside goblins and even sending gremlins flying. He lost his swords by foolishly smashing them into shards against the cuirasses of multiple goblins tearing gouges into them and slaying the monsters instantly. The second goblin that fled from him early in the battle returned when he was bereft of weapons. It grinned evilly and eagerly, thinking it’s chances were higher of either slaying him or surviving him once more. Ogre accepted the Gremlin’s blade in the meat of his neck, choking on blood, in order to plunge one paw with gauntleted claws into its eye slits. It screamed in agony dropping sword and shield to scrabble at the dog’s thick armoured arm. Bracing his other paw as he tore the monster’s head from its shoulders silencing it’s scream with a horrific gurgling crescendo that sprayed him in the monster’s fluids. The goblins near him froze, horror warping their hideous faces behind visors and the bars of helms and helmets. He did not give them a chance to flee, bleeding freely from the wound in his neck, his vigor and strength sapping, he tore through his enemies by the dozen. Minutes stretched to hours and hours to days.

The goblins learned to fight him quickly by banding together in their shields, not taking chances by overextending, and using the greater strength of gremlins and even hobgoblins to wound him further. He was dead on his footpaws as the days passed and not one goblin fell to him in a day and a half. Even though before that, he finally managed to slay a hobgoblin after twelve hours of fighting it and the cowardly strikes of lesser greenskins about him. He had long retreated back to the tunnel but he was too tired to make the signal that he needed to be replaced. He had to persevere for a pawful of hours more before they were able to bodily drag him from the field. Even in his weakness he was so strong that it took Orda and Aida both to manage it as Xendaranan took his place for an hour. They healed him with their cleric skills and gave him food and drink. Ogre presented the greatsword of the hobgoblin he slew three days earlier to Aida, who took it and relieved Xendaranan. The spear-wielding otter came back bloodied and stumbling, but he was walking on his own two paws. He looked to Ogre amazed that he lasted so many days, when an hour was enough to drain the vigor from him so thoroughly.

They did not ask him why did he not level up to recover his vigor, health, and vigor points. Leveling up was still an incredible danger, though the bliss was always a danger to an adventurer. They knew that even better than he did. However, the dog had a particular aversion to it. The power associated with his leveling was so intense so intoxicating that it terrified him. Ogre slipped into an unconsciousness. They let him sleep as long as they dared. Aida lasted a half day. Orda lasted a full day. Vedana surprisingly went for a day and a half, whereas Xendaranan could only go for a few hours. His aegis was their only light, after losing a lot of their gear in battles in and out of the sewers and in the spider warrens. He could not afford to exhaust himself fully as the others could. Orda knew how to fight defensively, but Aida did the most damage with her greatsword. Ogre took his turn when they were too exhausted to go on, waking him from where he collapsed in the small chamber behind the hall. They slew many goblins, gremlins, and hobgoblins but the numbers seemed endless. The others leveled up when they could do so safely, but it was not enough. The incredible boosts that they got with their others two hundred or so levels did not come this time and so their stats grew only a bit better. There was a pall of dread that settled upon them. The relentless attacks of the goblin army pushed them from the entrance to the hall down to its end and some goblins and gremlins made it into the room itself. They saw death, by the creep of legions of armoured boots pushing them stride by paw, by claw to the edge of the stairs that led deeper into the earth. They knew, they felt that death breathing on the back of their neck, with every fight, every clash, every battle.

Every one of them fell at least a few dozen gremlins, and hundreds of the armoured goblins. Aida, and Vedana slew hobgoblins but Ogre was the only one to slay a Goblin Brute. The others had to retreat when such monsters approached, and call for help in the retreat, so as to not be skewered by the gremlins that usually harried that retreat. It was after Ogre failed to hold out for even a pawful of minutes, when the party knew that death had finally come. Aida and Vedana rose, unsteadily to take his place and to keep the goblins and gremlins from surrounding flooding into the small chamber and pushing them over the rim of the cavernous drop. Ogre gasped and moaned on the far side of the room, as Orda poured healing elixir into him, unable to use healing because of the cost of vigor, as Xendaranan maintained the shield. A Goblin Brute approached, smashing lesser goblins out of the way, flanked by three of it’s Hobgoblin captains. It was taller than even Ogre’s new height by half a paw, just as broad and hefted with armour and muscle; and the steel alone could have easily been thrice that of the dog’s mass. The hobgoblins were a half a paw shorter than Ogre, but they towered over the Otters. It only took a few blows with the Goblin Brute’s flanged mace to break Xendaranan’s shield, throwing the chamber into pitch black dark. Their hope went out with the light of Aegis. The smell of panic thickened the air like a morbid soup, mixing with the scent of blood and death, matched by the stench of offal that leaked from the dead and dying.

Tremendous blows slammed into the beasts, making their armour scream with the clang and groan of metal warping and buckling, sending them flying into stone wall or into other party members. They cried out in panic and fear, lashing out blindly, striking friend and foe. They bled and they felt their strength sap from their bodies, heat leaking from wounds caused by armour piercing attacks, dying, and screaming in abandon as they did. They descended back into that nightmare in the Spider Warrens at that time. They wept, they screamed in in abrupt madness, and descended deeper into despair. For minutes all they could feel was despair.

Then Ogre started singing.

Chop, goes the axe!

Whack, goes the hammeeeer!

Down goes the tree,

Down goes the foe,

When I was a young pup,

My pappy told meeeee,

That fighting was the sweetmeat,

But working was the cream,

He’d fight all night,

And work all Daaaay,

When I ask him to get some rest,

This is what he’d say,

Chop, goes the axe!

Whack, goes the hammeeeer!

Down goes the tree,

Down goes the foe,

Chop, goes the axe!

Whack, goes the hammeeeer!

Down goes the tree,

Down goes the foe,

When I was a young mutt,

My captain told meeeee,

That battle was a high prince

But Drilling was the King,

We’d Train all night,

And war all daaaay,

When I ask if we could get some rest,

This is what he’d say,

Chop, goes the axe!

Whack, goes the hammeeeer!

Down goes the tree,

Down goes the foe,

Chop, goes the axe!

Whack, goes the hammeeeer!

Down goes the tree,

Down goes the foe,

His voice started low and weak, it was likely so low in the beginning that they only heard the parts that were loud enough to be heard as his voice grew in volume and strength. He rose, standing his full height and meeting the Goblin Brute in a mortal clash. The clash made the otters flinch from the thunderous blows that the two took on their weapons, plate, and bodies. Minutes of frenzied fighting, allowed Ogre to throw down the Goblin Brute, internally decapitating him with a devastating pommel strike to its throat, snapping his head back with a wicked disjointed crunch, before taking the monstrous flanged mace that monster wielded and adding it to his arsenal. Two great weapons, forged steel both were as heavy as he. The mace and the other a huge, wickedly curved axe that he took from another brute slain weeks earlier; allowed him to tear into the hobgoblins that swarmed to attack. He dropped two of them, screaming and dying in a quick breath, and Aida slew the last by thrusting her one-ton curved greatsword through the open visor of the monster’s helmet. Singing at the top of his lungs, he bodily pushed at the flow of goblins and gremlins, slaying those who would not give, denting and putting holes and rents into lesser steel armour. He slew so many, dozens in minutes and hundreds in hours, but there was so many to slay. The singing went on and the otters behind him found that their vigor was returning, that their battle fatigue and general exhaustion was fading. After a few refrains they took up the song themselves rallying behind their captain as he pushed back the hordes.

Second Battle of the Red Mist I

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