4

The brass-coated automaton sputtered to action, its arm mechanically opening to reveal what looked like a multi-barreled minigun—and it was pointed right at me. The machine rooted itself in place, looking like it was preparing to mitigate recoil. Instead of bullets its horrible weapon sprayed crossbow bolts with surprising accuracy. the stream of projectiles slammed into my armor and forcefully drove me back as I struggled with traction on the slick wood floor. Had it not been for my armor, I wouldn’t have survived the deathly barrage. The crossbow minigun had an insane firing rate, but it couldn’t seem to pierce through my armor and wasn’t doing any damage to my fairly large health pool.

The automaton quickly adjusted its battle plan and decided to pick new targets from our group. It didn’t even bother to stop shooting as it readjusted its aim—maybe it couldn’t. Trying to move into the stream of bolts, I pushed myself to the side while still moving forward, but a lot of innocent people were dying as the automaton mindlessly fired at unarmored flesh. There was little I could do to prevent it. Crossbow bolts found unintentional targets, but my friends quickly flipped over one of the tables in the tavern to use as temporary cover from the onslaught of bolts. The rest of the Green Oyster goons were trying to swarm me so they could protect their automaton which somehow hadn’t run out of ammo yet.

Gaz was trying to come to my aid, but as soon as he stood, he toppled to the side unevenly and almost fell. The automaton tracked his motion and adjusted its aim, sending a line of bolts toward Gaz and forcing him back behind cover. He was probably going to be useless in this fight, so it was all up to me. At least until I could take down the automaton. Richard shouted commands to his thugs, pitching his voice so that it would carry over the screams of the crowd, most of whom had decided fleeing was now the better option after the wake of carnage from the automaton. Before the shooting spree, it had probably been an interesting, entertaining spectacle for an otherwise uneventful town, but now, it was nothing more than a bloodbath.

Richard dove forward, dropping John to the floor in an unconscious, bleeding heap. The swift orc was obviously giving up on his crossbow for the time being after witnessing how protective my armor was. He was now dual-wielding daggers, and imbued his weapons with burning shadow-like energy, jumping forward and twisting in the air in a vicious bladed spiral. I quickly cast Warp to avoid the attack, fully anticipating the rush of vertigo and motion sickness from using my ability even though it didn’t cost any astral power to cast. For some reason, that blast of sickness didn’t come, but I was still feeling unsteady from all the ale that sloshed around in my stomach.

I appeared in front of the Automaton safely out of Richard’s reach for the time being. Following through with my momentum, I smashed the head of the machine with Gaz’s hammer right before I crashed into the automaton with my body. My two-handed hammer strike crumpled its head like a tin can, and I flew across the room, tangled up with the enemy as we hit the wood floor and tumbled and scratched along the surface, coming to a stop after hitting a table and reducing it to splinters.

Somehow, the automaton was still functioning despite its mangled head, and I scrambled to my feet, raising the warhammer above my head and bringing it down into the center of the machine’s reinforced chest before it could escape. The strike was true, and the inner workings of the machine exploded, sending burning coal, metallic shrapnel, and small powder-like crystals skittering across the floor of the tavern. The automaton was out of the fight for good, but the red-hot coals were still spilling out of the husk of its body, and they started to ignite the floorboards after burning through the varnish.

“Watch out!” Clarence yelled to me from across the room as he and the rest of my friends emerged from the toppled table they were using as makeshift cover.

I looked up too late. One of Richard’s goons snuck up on me while I was dealing the final death to the automaton and drove a blade into my shoulder, somehow making it through the plate and inflicting a minor puncture wound. Pain lanced through my shoulder and arm, and I felt the distinctive wetness of blood trickling down my skin toward my hand. I tried to raise Gaz’s hammer, but the blade lodged in my shoulder locked my arm, and any movement sent spiking pain shooting through my joint. “Save John!” I yelled back, too preoccupied with my attacker to do anything about my dying friend.

The slender attacker was dual-wielding two short swords, and while he struggled to pull his first blade free from my shoulder, he tried to drive the second blade through my helmet. Before he could, I activated Astral Armor, spending two of my nine astral power and imbuing my armor with a 21 hp energy shield while shifting to a +1 resonant state. With one point of resonance, I boosted my defense rating and strength by 5% since my willpower modifier had moved up to the next tier. The assassin’s blade bounced off my helmet and he recoiled in surprise when my armor suddenly ignited in a blanket of cosmic energy when struck.

The enemy’s second strike was well placed, and my Astral Armor dipped 14 hp, leaving only seven points left on the shield. Fortunately, my health was still at 32 out of 38, and the bleeding from my shoulder wound was minimal. Even better, I wasn’t feeling sick at all from using my abilities yet, and it seemed like having a higher willpower made the world of difference in using my class and not feeling like I was going to throw up at any second. If we made it out of this alive, I was going to get a huge ‘I told you so’ from Gaz once he recovered from what was going to be a disgusting hangover.

Seizing my moment of opportunity, I pressed myself up, wrapping a heavy gauntlet around the attacker’s blade which was still stuck in my shoulder. I pulled it out and slammed the hilt into the man’s nose, feeling the satisfying crunch of cartilage and watching his health bar drop 10%. He reeled backward, trying to reposition himself to attack me again, but I threw his sword at him as hard as possible. The short weapon wasn’t balanced for throwing and hit him with only minor damage. Using the distraction, I repositioned my grip on Gaz’s hammer and rushed forward, swinging it in a low arc with all of my strength. The hammer struck the assassin’s leg as he was trying move away from me, and something that wasn’t Gaz’s hammer broke irreversibly.

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Another attacker rushed to try to help his friend, but a ball of arcane magic from Clarence slammed into his chest and sent him cratering into the back wall of the building in flash of blue light. The goblin mage doubled down and sent another missile into the man he had hit with the first spell, dropping his health to zero. Clarence nodded to me, and started casting more spells now that almost all of the villagers were out of the tavern and out of harm’s way. It was clear Clarence was struggling under the influence of alcohol, but he was doing his best. Smoke was rising from below as the burning coals of the automaton ignited the floor, furniture, and walls, spreading dangerous flames and creating an interesting battleground.

With the opening, I rushed forward and hit the downed assassin in front of me again with the hammer, ending his life with a series of gruesome noises that sounded like putting bubble wrap and ice in a rusty blender.

Overkill! +1 bonus xp

John was dangerously close to death, but Gaz managed to hit him with a Sphere of Light, barely keeping him alive as the dwarf struggled to balance himself and actively heal our party. Richard was going after Kirsten now, and Clarence was actively trying to ward him back with magic, but it seemed like Richard’s weapons were absorbing most if not all of the magic Clarence was casting, including his signature Polymorph: Pumpkin spell. I blinked over to Richard with Warp and tried to take a heavy swing at his head right before materializing. The big orc ducked under my swing and extended both arms rapidly, sinking his twin ethereal daggers through my armor, completely ignoring my 7 hp Astral Armor and dealing 10 damage all while leaving no visible damage to my armor when he ripped the blades out of my stomach. Icy fire burned in my gut as I tried to suck in a fresh breath of air.

The pain was sharp, but the adrenaline from the fight was helping me focus on what really mattered. I staggered back and moved away, using my last charge of Warp to blink right behind an unsuspecting human who was trying to get to Gaz and Kirsten before Richard could follow up on his advantage.

I hit the human with my hammer, watching with sick fascination as his head exploded in a cloud of red gunk as if it was a rotten melon stuffed with cheap firecrackers.

Extra gore! +1 bonus xp

I tossed Gaz his hammer while taking the short sword from the man I had just killed. The hammer wasn’t really my style, especially with the excessive blunt force trauma it inflicted, but I could see why Gaz liked it. If he was able to do anything at all other than keep John alive, it wouldn’t be unarmed or with a sword; he’d need a weapon he was familiar with.

I was still trying to pace myself with my abilities to avoid feeling sick, and so far it was working. Warp didn’t feel taxing at all, but Richard’s attention was glued to me, and he decided to charge after me with his daggers instead of targeting Kirsten and the others. He knew he could bypass my armor and energy shielding, and that made him extremely dangerous.

“I’ll be right back! Getting alcohol flush potions from the wagon. Hold them off!” Clarence yelled, teleporting out of the tavern. If they worked quickly, the potions might give Kirsten and Gaz a better chance at being effective in the fight. I was too preoccupied with Richard to take the time to down a potion. Even with the speed of the short sword I was wielding, I still felt like Richard outclassed me significantly. Things were looking grim.

The kobold who was in the back line of the attackers made his appearance, and it was a mistake to ignore him as long as we had. He twisted his staff over his head in a vortex, chanting as the candle crowning the weapon splashed hot wax all over the floor and what was left of the tavern's crushed and smoldering furniture. Suddenly, the fires from the spilled coals of his automaton friend started hovering in the air, zooming over into the swirling motion of his staff and creating an incredible ring of burning flames that orbited around him. He weaved his fiery creation, accelerating the flames which grew furious as they consumed more oxygen. The ring expanded and shifted shape, contorting into something that resembled a dragon in form and function.

The old kobold wasn't heavily armored. He was wearing a simple cotton robe tied to his body with a coarse piece of rope, burned at the ends so it wouldn't fray. Despite his ascetic and ancient appearance, the kobold was clearly talented as some kind of pyromancer. The mage stopped the building from burning down for the time being, but our situation had degraded further now that there was a huge dragon made entirely of flames flying around the room. The monster belched flames, sending a spray of liquid fire splashing across the room in a straight, lethal line. I dove away, narrowly dodging the attack as I scrambled to my feet, shoving broken furniture out of my way.

I tried to position myself in a way that would make it difficult for the kobold to hit me with the dragon, but I had no idea how he planned on using the controlled entropy he wielded. I didn't plan on finding out how hard the dragon could hit. Between all the broken furniture, the bodies, and the flames, navigating the tavern was becoming increasingly difficult.

Kirsten and Gaz tried to retreat into the doorway of the kitchen, but Richard's thugs were moving to prevent that from happening. I couldn't cast Warp again for another 10 seconds, and once I did have another charge up and ready to use, I’d probably need to use it to bait out the Kobold’s spell and evade the massive hit at the last moment. For now, my friends were on their own while I dealt with Richard.

“Fight me! Richard yelled, once again circling me with his blades raised, crouching low and preparing to leap. There was no choice. If I turned my back on him he would kill me.

Readying myself, I gripped my new sword and jumped forward, trying to go on the offensive and use my sheer bulk to overpower the muscular orc. It was a horrible plan. Pivoting, Richard evaded my poor attempt at tackling and stabbing him, and sunk a blade into my stomach, the shadowy metal passing through my armor effortlessly. I exhaled sharply as my insides burned and seemed to turn outward. I tried to get away, but he twisted his weapon and used my momentum against me, wrapping an arm around my hip and tossing me through the air.

I landed on top of a chair which shattered on impact, splintering across the floor and doing little to dampen my painful, bleeding fall. With a swimming head and rush of vertigo, I tried to stand and make sense of what was happening, but I couldn’t manage to get myself up. I was down to only seven health, but I still had Second Wind ready which would bring me up to full health if my health reached zero, at least in theory. Richard’s previous attack silenced me, and I was unable to cast spells or activate abilities for five more seconds. The silence would probably prevent Second Wind from triggering, but I had no intention of finding out if that was the case.

Now that I was far enough away from the ringleader of the surprisingly proficient enemies, the Kobold sent his inferno dragon into the action. It was flying right toward me.