She heard the mage call out from behind her, “How much time do we have?”
“Little to none,” she called back. Reloading again, she kept an eye on the bookshelves before her. There were three openings for the trolls to rush them and while only a few of the monsters had appeared, the flames were now licking the ceiling on the far end of the room and so she figured they were like to move soon. Why they are lighting everything on fire is beyond me. Then she looked closer at the corpse of the first troll she had shot. Its skin was glowing orange.
Her heart sank in her chest as the ghost of Benson floated up beside her. “Ah, I see you just noticed the fire resistance on the trolls. They do this every time they raid the library for intruders. I can’t stop them, but this is also why I had Master Severin cast the inversion sigils.” He looked over at the wall of books. “I also saw you checking for a secret door and I just wanted to let you know that particular option has been eliminated from this edition of this dungeon.”
Calista eyed the ghost suspiciously, “Why are you telling me this? Why are you helping me?”
The ghost shook his head, “Oh, I’m not helping you. No, no, no ma’am. No, I’m just telling you how absolutely screwed you are. I have orders to do so.”
Another troll popped his head out and Calista shot again, but this time the bolt narrowly missed the monster’s head as it thunked into a shelf.
“So you led us in here to screw us over?” She asked. “This was all a part of an elaborate trap?”
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The ghost shook his head again, “No, not necessarily. This is exactly how this encounter in this part of the dungeon is supposed to go. Most intruders who reach this point die. In fact, all of the intruders who’ve reached this point have died.”
She gave the ghost a worried look as she reloaded her crossbow again, “You’re not helping.”
Benson looked at her curiously, “I’m not supposed to help. I thought I was very clear on that.”
The trolls came at her then, rushing out from all three openings. She drilled the lead troll in the chest and then slung the crossbow over her back as she ripped her sword free of its scabbard. “Lefty! Narene! Time’s up!”
The trolls, predictably, were not coming at her in an organized fashion. Which was fortunate. As a rogue based class, she lacked the melee prowess of a martial class. Her armor was light. She carried no shield. She did not use a second weapon. And her sword fighting ability was probably half as effective as a fighter of the same level. However, what she did have was a magic sword and several levels of experience on these trolls, none of whom were as skilled, armored, or fearsome as the knights she had faced earlier.
The first troll came at her with his scimitar held high over his head, ready for a two-handed swing that was sure to split her head in half. Calista, however, did not give him this chance as, before the troll could swing, she sprang forward and allowed her Emberblade to separate the troll’s head from his shoulders.
As the dismembered head hit the floor with a wet thud, a second troll charged her with a spear. Setting her feet, she dodged to the side and whipped the blade at the troll’s head, but her assailant managed to bring the haft of his spear up just in time to block her blow. Oh boy, it’s going to get interesting now. She had been counting on her being able to kill the first two or three trolls outright before retreating against the wall.
She lashed out at the troll with the spear, beating him back with blow after blow until her blade caught the spear just right and snapped the haft in two. However, just as she was about to finish him off, the next two trolls came at her, one charging over the tiles with a sword and shield while the other leapt over a desk, battleaxe in hand.
She took a final swipe at the now spear-less troll, but he simply ducked and rolled out of her way. Then, as the other two trolls closed in on her, she retreated between two desks and moved her sword into a more defensive stance. The troll with the axe rushed her first as he jumped between the two desks and swung the axe right at her head. She parried and the two blades met in a shower of sparks. Her arms shook from the impact, but then she saw her foe trip over the leg of an overturned desk, so she whipped the Emberblade around and severed his arm at the elbow. Blood gushed from the troll’s severed arm as he fell against the desk and screamed in agony.