Once beyond the bridge and through the next tunnel, the three of us stepped into another chamber just as large as the previous one. Kindra kept her [Incinerate] up on me at all times and I was thankful for it. She might have been somewhat rude and abrasive, but as a warrior, she was irreplaceable for the moment.
“I could have died, you know?” the more replaceable of my two companions complained but I gave his words no heed.
“Oh, no, please not Bleff. What would we do without you,” Kindra said. The flame in her hand shimmered in her orange eyes. “I think we’re close to the end. Look at all this shit,” Kindra said, pointing to mountains of bones, torn, rusty armor and weapons, and heaps of skulls littering the large cave. We found no time to inspect any of it because the now familiar rattle of rats promised more glorious battle.
“Stay behind me, and Bleff?”
“Yes?”
“Try and heal me, alright?”
“Ugh,” he mumbled as he picked great chunks of green from his nose and then nervously ate it. I shuddered and looked away, digging my heels in fully cognizant of the fact that my healer could let me down at any point.
Out came the vermin through crevasses and holes in the walls, ceiling, and ground. A great tide of filthy fur and chittering teeth, of yellow fangs and dead eyes.
“Try to gather them all in one place!” Kindra yelled out as I engaged the closest throng of rats to my right.
The rats jumped at me with great ferocity, eager to pierce the bronze skin of a Varian Lord of Tartarus. But I would not have it so. I slashed a wild arc across their ranks, splitting two, three, four of the beasts and squashing a fifth with my sandal. One particularly large rat grabbed onto my shield with its claws, and I smashed it against the ground, destroying both vermin and protection.
I tossed the splintered crab shield away and pulled out yet another from my inventory. I glanced over my shoulder seeing Kindra channeling another fireball, and just as she was about to release it, I threw myself out of the way and let the orb of molten arcane power explode against a large swathe of rats. The fires lit up the entire room as the agonized squeal of the little demons filled my heart. I saw my experience bar shoot up by a great chunk and reveled in the fact it was halfway up to level 6.
I leaped through the fire and smoke and landed in what remained of their numbers, crushing tiny skulls with my shield and sandal, slicing vermin in two and three, tossing some against walls, and biting back at others as they bit at me.
“Your health, Shieldfather!” Bleff yelled as white light surrounded him.
I had in truth not paid much attention to it as the joy of war had overcome me. It was down to a meager 57 / 200 and as Bleff’s healing spell [Tear of Bleff] landed on me, it rose to an unimpressive 66 / 200.
Luckily the rats thought it pointless to battle and their thinning numbers soon vanished back into the holes they came from. We looted the scorched bodies finding more useless pieces of burnt vermin and nothing else, then considered our next move.
“I have bad news,” Kindra said as the smoke cleared. “I’m down to one more fireball and I’m out of incinerate spells.”
Her words pained me greatly for I had become used to the crackling warmth in my bones. The prospect of having to fight the rats and the cold at once was uninviting, but welcome nevertheless. Only the folded and hammered steel can grow to have a purpose. Besides, the day I relied on wyrd-speech for war would be the day I ate my own steel.
“Then we shall make do with what we have.”
“I only have two more healing spells left,” Bleff said and shrugged apologetically.
“So that’s it? You can cast your heal two more times for a few points each?” Kindra inquired with a grimace of disgust aimed at the goblin.
“It heals between six and ten points…but yeah. I suck, I know. No need to rub it in.”
For a second, I felt a pang of compassion for the useless, cowardly creature that attached itself to me like a spiked bloodsucker. A Shieldfather’s prime directive was the protection of the world against the evils of hell and who needed more protection than that weeping, sniveling man-child? Nobody, not even a Varian infant was as helpless as Bleff.
“Onwards!” I said, casting aside my thoughts and pointing to the other end of the chamber, but once more the ground next to my feet trembled slightly, and out came the same rat as before. A great wide grin spread across its ugly muzzle. I stepped away and poised for combat but decided to hear out its words.
“Two down, three to go, yes, yes. You’ve led them well, barbarian.”
“I’m not a barbarian, vermin. That’s prejudice steeped in ignorance.”
The rat shrugged as if uninterested in the truth. So be it, I thought, the underdwellers have never been a literate bunch.
“Hear him out this time for the love of Firda.”
“Hmm,” I muttered.
“Yes, yes, listen cautiously, barbarian for I will give you—”
“I’m not a barbarian, rat! Must every lesson be taught by the edge of my blade?”
“For fuck’s sake, let it speak!” Kindra roared.
“Riddle me this,” it said, ignoring my threats. “Three venture forth, but only if you answer true. Two will venture forth if you can’t think this riddle through.”
The rat giggled and squealed as if it had just uttered words of great wisdom and not strings of meaningless babble. Nevertheless, I wiped the sweat and dirt from my face and let his words sink in.
But came up with nothing.
“I’ve no idea,” Kindra said as a big, throbbing vein pulsated across her forehead.
“Bleff?” I called out, never removing my eyes from the rat with the staff.
“I’m sorry.”
“Yes, sorry,” I chewed the words. “Well, I don’t know, and neither do my companions. So, death it is.”
“Wrong!” the rat cried out, laughing maniacally.
“Oh, gods help us!” Bleff shoved his face in his hands.
I knew some great evil would come to find us, so I did the best I could and dashed at the rat again. This time, however, I was prepared for its swift escape and instead of trying to cut it short, I used my [Shield Slam] ability to stun the cowardly rat before it could dig back into the earth.
The vermin staggered backward, its eyes rolling up and its tongue flapping carelessly to the side. I dug my sword into its guts two times before it came to its senses and coughed blood onto my face.
“The Great One—” it began, the words lost in gurgles of blood. “Will avenge—”
A third stab to its throat did the trick and I pushed the rat off my blade with a kick. Its body tumbled harmlessly to the ground and I raised my shield, taking the cavernous chamber. I half-expected some sort of machination to attempt murder against us once more. Bleff was hiding behind a pile of skulls while Kindra stood in the middle of the room panting and looking around nervously as sweat pooled between her collarbones.
“Anything?” she asked.
“Doesn’t look like it,” I straightened out and grinned. “Empty threats. We should have killed him the first time around. A mistake paid with Tamaban’s life.”
I walked over to the rat’s body and looted it. Nothing but filthy rags and trinkets on that one, but at least they would sell well. I pried the staff from his fingers and looked at it.
NAME: Wooden Staff
TYPE: Two-handed Staff
ATTACK: 2
DESCRIPTION: To be honest, it's a branch.
“There,” I said, tossing it at Bleff. “You need a weapon.”
The goblin slowly slung out between the wall and the skulls, picked up the staff, and eyed it for a bit. Then he cried again.
“What is it now?”
“I just—I used to wield such weapons that…oh, gods look at this thing.”
“You used to wield weapons?” Kindra said with a cynicism that was hard to miss.
“Yes, for your information I was Bleff the Butcher, conqueror of—oh, you wouldn’t understand.”
“What’s the skidmark talking about?” the wizard asked as she eyed me curiously.
“The goblin claims he was once a great warrior who died and was reborn in this world.”
Kindra’s brow furrowed and for good reason. It was beyond wild imagination to think that creature was a warrior of even the most basic sorts, let alone one with title and prominence. The words certainly gave Kindra pause for she seemed to try to piece something together.
“Reborn in this world,” she said dismissively. “You sound worse than those Helva fanatics everywhere. Next, you’re going to tell me there’s a heaven and a hell, eh?”
I snorted and laughed at that.
“What little you know, wyrd-speaker. There are worlds beyond worlds. My very existence proves this.”
Kindra opened her mouth to say something but a great tremble in the walls that brought dirt and dust streaming from the ceiling cut our conversation short.
Suddenly, the earth ruptured beneath the wizard and the hierophant and swallowed both before I could even take a single step forward. Their cries echoed across the cavern as they tumbled down deep shafts each. I rushed to the holes and saw that they were caught in tubes of dirt and barely able to stand.
“Help me!” Bleff yelled in desperation.
“Get me the fuck out of here!” Kindra cried.
“Stay firm,” I shot back, trying to think of a way to pull them out. I quickly rummaged through the junk sitting around the cavern in the hope of finding some rope or other means of helping them, but soon realized I had nothing.
“You need this,” a voice behind me said then giggled.
I turned to see a rat the size of a human robed in deteriorating armor and hefting a great rusty butcher’s knife. Bone necklaces hung off its neck and bracelets and ringers graced its bony hands. It threw a coil of rope at my feet and giggled again.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Who do you care more for, barbarian? The human or the goblin?”
“Holes are opening up everywhere! Rats are coming, help me!” Kindra cried out.
I looked at the rat, then back at the two holes behind me.
“Your ultimatum is moot, demon rat. I will slay you and save both!” I growled then dashed at it, ready to [Shield Slam] the oversized vermin and stop it from escaping. Despite its size, this one was faster and managed to escape me.
“Shieldfather! Help!” Bleff cried.
I picked up the rope and slid to a halt next to his hole. When I looked down, I saw rats streaming into the hole. The two would soon be drowned in a tide of teeth and claws.
“Help!” he cried and so did Kindra. I couldn’t possibly save both of them, there was simply no time. The shafts were filling up and their health pools were plunging quickly.
“Fuck the goblin! Don’t save the fucking goblin!”
“Save me! Don’t listen to her! It’s my last life!”
I gritted my teeth and cursed my fate for I had to make a choice any Shieldfather dreaded. Here was a woman of great use, a hard warrior who brought warmth to this cold world and promised more as soon as we left this hellhole. A powerful woman of great beauty and a fiery attraction I could hardly resist. And then there was Bleff.
“Bleff,” I said taking a deep breath. “You have been a—well, it’s difficult to find the right words in a time such as this.”
“Help!” Kindra cried again.
“But know that a warrior’s death—”
“I can’t…too many! Fuck you all!” Kindra screamed and then a loud explosion rocked the ground and a plume of fire surged out of the wizard’s shaft, carrying with it rats and rocks and scorched dirt that rained onto me.
“Her last fireball,” I muttered to myself.
Quickly and dreadfully aware of the wizard’s fate, I hastily lowered the rope into Bleff’s hole.
“Oh, gods, help me out!” he cried as I pulled him free of the shaft with a dozen rats at his back climbing up the dirt walls.
I flung the goblin to the side as he reached the top, then got to hacking down the enemies that had come up alongside him.
Bleff was lying face down in the dirt behind me, mumbling something into the ground. The hole Kindra had been inside was still smoking and the smell of burnt flesh soon forced me to get up and move on.
“Get up, Bleff. We need to continue,” I said, softly nudging the goblin with my foot.
He looked up at me, his face covered in wet dirt, blood, and snot.
“You…you saved me again.”
“Hmm.”
“You really saved me again!”
“Yes. Let’s move on then.”
“Yes, yes, of course, and look,” he said, holding up his staff. “I saved my weapon too.”
“Well done, Bleff.”
I looked over to the hole Kindra was in and saw nothing but smoking dirt, rock, and scorched rat bodies. A warrior’s death overshadowing even that of Keldar. To take one’s own life in pursuit of death against the enemy was an honor beyond any other. Kindra was Shieldmother material, there was no question about it. Had she been forged in the bosom of hell, she’d be at the Bulwark right now.
“To the Frostlands, old gal,” I said and breathed out, my great bronze chest heaving.
“To the Frostlands,” the goblin said and looked up at me as if expecting praise for offering respect.
I could hardly look back at him. What was this creature? And why was our fate intertwined in such a way? Truly, I thought, Kold was trying to teach me a lesson, or Ra’een himself had found my work as a Shieldfather lacking. Something needed to make sense and soon, or I would find myself overcome with madness before I ever found a way back to Hell.
“There’s an opening over there now,” Bleff said, pointing at an arched entrance to yet another tunnel except this one had beams supporting it.
I hadn’t noticed it when we first entered and concluded it must have opened during those deadly events from before. Markings in blood hung above it. Some unknown twisted rat tongue that would surely drive anyone mad if they were to read it.
I paid it no heed for I had seen my share of runes written in blood back in hell. Bleff feared the words, of course, but he seemed to fear his own shadow, too.
We traversed this relatively large tunnel with careful steps. I had to lead Bleff through it because we missed the light of Kindra’s flame and the goblin kept bumping into walls, beams, and my own feet.
I could hear chatter and see feint light up ahead and cautioned Bleff to stay vigilant for we were about to enter yet another room, quite possibly more dangerous than the last. Even so, I shunned the idea of sneaking up to the enemy and instead walked in with my head held high and my chest pushed out. I was trembling somewhat from the freezing temperatures, but I managed to steady myself enough not to look weak.
As we stepped into the large room, the voice of the rat who was to blame for Kindra’s demise welcomed me.
“And two venture forth,” it giggled. “Where’s your wizard?”
“In a place you wish you’d be soon enough, demon.”
“Demon,” it repeated and giggled louder.
The two large rats with rusty cleavers in their hands joined in. I took in the large, surprisingly civilized room. Stone walls did away with the dirt and lamps burned brightly on their hinges. Two rows of wooden benches and stone tables ran from where the rat was sitting up to the entrance. There was something of a kitchen to our right, but it was riddled with throngs of small rats scurrying about. More heaps of deteriorating armor, weapons, skulls, and other bones sat next to the walls. Most prominently among all of it were a great number of grain sacks stacked on top of each other.
The rat’s little treasure vaults, I wagered.
“I like that,” the rat said through a hiss. “Great One the Demon, that sounds good, don’t it, boys? I like it a lot.”
“You’re the Great One?” I said and could barely contain my laughter. The rat hissed, baring its teeth. An insult to its fragile ego.
Fitting.
“How absurd of a creature you are.”
“I’ll show you absurd!” It turned to the large rat on its left. “What’s absurd mean?”
“Mean’s some stupid adventure shit, boss.”
I shook my head thinking of Keldar, Tamban, and Kindra. How those weak, but honorable people died so a rat could revel in its little kingdom of dirt and stupidity.
“Shield—Shieldfather, you sure we can take them all on? Maybe we should—”
“Not now, Bleff. Straighten up, and push your chest out. Prepare for death. It is time to avenge our companions, to reap their lives, and tread the path of honor.”
“Oh, gods. I’m terrified.”
“Listen to the goblin, barbarian. He’s got them proper brains,” the Great One said and giggled again.
“Rolp, Humba, bring me their kidneys!”
The two rats to his sides roared with maniacal laughter and charged at us, moving in between the tables and benches. I grinned and licked my lips. Dug my heels in, and raised my shield.
Rolp, the skinnier one, sprinted at me, mindlessly swinging his cleaver like a child, spittle spraying from his mouth and eyes filled with bestial ferocity.
It was all in vain, for he was a poor adversary.
I activated [Triple Block] countering his first swing. Rusty iron met the hard crab shield, leaving a deep dent and chipping away at the red armor. Another swing came overhead, I blocked upward pushing his cleaver back and opening his chest for my blade. My shield broke, but I didn’t need the third block, I dug my sword into his guts, pulled out then slashed across his throat. Blood sprayed me and I reveled in it.
The juice of justice.
“Rolp!” the Great One gasped. “How did you kill him so fast? Who gave you that sword, you filthy little cheater? You’re all cheaters!”
The words meant nothing and neither did I pay them any attention.
Humba was chasing Bleff around somewhere behind me. The goblin hid under the nearest stone table as the oversized vermin tried to hack him down. I grabbed the rat by his filthy cloak and pulled him off his feet. He stumbled and then fell onto his back. Raising my foot high, I stomped on his weapon hand with my sandal and he clawed at me with the other, tearing into the flesh of my leg. I lost ten points of health with just that one attack, but that didn’t stop me from driving my blade into its mouth. I roared and laughed as the upper part of the rat’s head came loose at the jaw.
Something crashed into me with considerable force. I staggered to the side, hit one of the benches with my knee, and almost fell over. I glimpsed at the rusty blade of the Great One’s butcher knife only for a second before it dug into part of my shoulder and my chest. Blood gushed out of the wound as the Great One pulled the cleaver out.
YOU HAVE ENCOUNTERED: The Great One
ATTACK: 11
DEFENSE: 4
DAMAGE OVER TIME SPELL DETECTED: [BLEED]
[DESCRIPTION]: Suffer 2 points of bleeding damage every 5 seconds or until healed.
CURRENT HEALTH: 51 / 200
As it readied its next attack, I kicked it in the stomach to create some space and then dragged myself away while pulling out another crab shield from my inventory.
“Heal!”
“Help!” Bleff cried, jumping from one table to the other as a throng of crazed rats skittered behind him like a wave of filthy fur. There was no way he could fight them off or heal me. Bleff was truly as useful as tits on a carcass bull.
“Get him, my little ones! Get me that goblin so I can roast him alive!”
“Oh, gods, don’t!” Bleff cried again as he almost stumbled over his own hairy feet, picked himself up, and jumped to the nearest table.
“And now back to you, you juicy-looking piece of meat.”
Though it sounded like a compliment, I doubted the Great One’s intention behind it. He came slowly at me as if I was already defeated and all he had to do was put me out of my misery.
How arrogant.
The rat suddenly stopped a few steps short of me and cocked his head to the side, eyeing me curiously.
“How—”
Through bloody teeth and a burning wound in my chest, I stood to my full height and towered over the Great One as Ra’een eclipsed the fury of his brother Ta’een. I bled and my health pool slowly dropped below 20%. My [Rage Against Death] ability had activated, offering me a surge of newfound power that would most certainly help me find vengeance.
“How are you still standing?” the Great One bellowed, his self-satisfied grin replaced by both anger and fear.
Oh, how I cherished to see it.
“Back to the hell with you,” I commanded, then swung my sword at the rat. He brought up the large rusty butcher’s knife to block, but that only made it worse for him.
The blade gifted to me by the human king bit through his ill-looking weapon, shattering it like porcelain, and then dug through the rat’s shoulder severing the arm from his body. For good measure, I drove [Shield Slam] into his face, crushing his nose, and slid open his belly from belt to throat.
The Great One fell to his knees as his insides spilled out, then keeled over to the cold stone floor.
[CONGRATULATIONS, YOU LEVELED UP!]
[YOU’RE LEVEL 6!]
[STRENGTH INCREASED BY 1]
[CONSTITUTION INCREASED BY 1]
[INTELLECT INCREASED BY 1]
STAT SCREEN
NAME: SHIELDFATHER
RACE: VAINAR
CLASS: IRON TOWER WARRIOR
LEVEL: 6
DEFENSE: 8
ATTACK: 11
HEALTH: 180
STRENGTH: 13 [+3 from race modifier]
CONSTITUTION: 15 [+5 from race modifier]
AGILITY: 7
INTELLECT: 4
FIRE RESISTANCE: +60
COLD RESISTANCE: -60
EXPERIENCE: 10/350 TO LEVEL 7
The surge of pleasure almost made me forget about Bleff and everything else around me. The goblin was still screaming for help, jumping from table to table, crying hopelessly, and fending off a rat here and there with his crooked staff.
“My health! Shieldfather, please! Don’t just stand there!”
I wasn’t just standing there. In fact, I was taking a quick look at what this new level offered in terms of ability and powers with which I could devastate my enemies and protect my allies.
I skimmed through my skill tree, which branched into two parts. The left with defensive abilities such as [Triple Block], the right with semi-offensive abilities such as [Shield Slam], and the yet-locked [Shield Bash]. This time, just like with level 5, I had the option of assigning two skill points, so I quickly used those in [Shield Bash]. It was a single powerful attack with my shield that did 200% of my shield defense value in damage.
“Shieldfather! For the love of Kold, please!” Bleff screamed, still evading the rats as best he could.
I glanced at the goblin but decided I had ample time to consider the next skill point. Bleff wasn’t a warrior by any means, but he proved skillful at running away from this particular enemy and I thought he could do just that for a little longer.
Another layer of options opened up beneath after adding the skill point into [Shield Bash], branching off into two skills.
FISSURE: Ram your shield into the ground, creating a fissure of rock to erupt in a wide arc at the front. Each enemy caught in the blast suffers 100% of shield defense value in damage. 15 seconds cooldown.
IRON LEAP: Leap up to ten feet away and land with a powerful stomp that knocks down weaker enemies and dazes stronger ones. 30 seconds cooldown.
“Varian—help. I’m dying!”
I looked to Bleff and saw the rats had finally caught up with the goblin. He was on the ground fending for his life against a handful of oversized rats, bleeding, crying, and most certainly dying if I were to ignore him. I put a skill point in [Fissure], and quickly dashed to my helpless companion.
I used [Fissure], immediately ramming the crab shield into the stone floor. My shield shattered, but not before cracks in the ground spread out like claw marks and sharp jagged rocks speared out upward, skewering the rats. I hacked down the last two with my sword before I helped Bleff up.
This would have been useful a few chambers ago.
He was shaking and sniveling as blood poured down his forehead and arms. His robes were soaked in sweat and he had a particularly rancid smell about him. He offered me a disgusting smile that showed his bloodied, yellow teeth then wiped the tears from his eyes.
“Is it over?”
He grabbed onto my loincloth, eyes bulging and red. I looked about the room for a brief moment then back at him.
“Sadly, it is.”
“Sa—sadly?”
“I feel my hunger for vengeance is not yet satiated.”
“Hunger for…can we go back now? To the village? To the hub?”
“Hmm.”
“Hmm, what?”
I didn’t answer, and instead, I walked back to the corpse of the Great One and looted it, hoping that for once there would be something of worth in the mangled remains of my enemies. And good Kold, there was.
NAME: Wooden Buckler
TYPE: Shield
DEFENSE: 6
DESCRIPTION: The wooden buckler is a staple of the lowborn, slow-minded, unambitious, what’s-his-name cutthroat swashbuckler and those who feel like it. Good luck, really.
I pulled the buckler from my inventory and tossed the crab shield away with gusto. I didn’t question how the Great One could have hidden this beautiful piece of equipment inside his guts, or why he hadn’t used it. No. Those questions paled before the moment.
I let my bronze fingers wander against the roped rim of the buckler, the leather reinforcement across the shield itself, and then pushed them through the leather strap handle in the back. I admired the simple dark wood, and the dark brown leather spread across the front. No markings, no embellishments, no runes with jewels and writings laced in gold, no nothing. Just a simple, functional shield whose beauty I could not put into words.
A tide of emotion greater than any Demon Tide washed over me and I felt my inner defenses crumble. It was a true shield. I had a shield!
“Are you crying, Shieldfather?” Bleff asked, looking up at me stupidly. I used the long leather strap called a guige to sling the shield onto my back.
“Yes, I am.”
“Because of the shield?”
I cleared my throat and wiped my tears.
“Because of the shield.”
“Huh, that’s pretty outright. You know? Emotionally and all. Good for you.”
“I am Shieldfather.”
“Uhm…yes? Yes, you are.”
“And now, Bleff, now we shall war truly.”
“Oh, gods.”