Joe moved cautiously off of the steps and back into the brackish, ankle-deep swamp water. His senses were on high alert and he glanced back to see Bixby had his ears perked forward and was surveying the area. He spun in a slow circle but there were no threats. Finally, he raised his hands in exasperation, “I don’t see anything…” The attack was so sudden and swift that none in the party had a chance to warn him.
To Joe, it felt as if a wrecking ball had struck him in the back. Through his armor and abilities, he felt ribs snap and a hot line of pain ran down his back as he was catapulted forward to slam face first into the steps to the fort. Instantly the others were in motion and Joe felt a warm tingling sensation as the pain in his back died down. He rolled over to see Kier casting a second healing spell, “Fucking ow!” The sound of Iona’s challenge shout drew his attention to the others.
Rising out of the swamp was an enormous saurian, yet this one looked vastly different than the others. Topping at least ten feet tall, it appeared much more like an alligator than a lizard and had bronze armor inlaid with turquoise designs that were very Egyptian. “Again, with the giant monsters?” Joe spat out with exasperation. The upright alligator man was wielding a nasty looking sword that had a wicked curve to the front half of it. Kier pulled Joe to his feet.
Rory, Iona and Bixby had surrounded the monstrosity. It was focused on Iona with both Rory and Bixby attacking its rear, but the thing’s long, armored tail was causing them to dodge more than attack. How the hell did this thing hide in six inches of water?
Monster Invasion: Crocodilian Champion (35)
HP: 6000
Status: Enraged
Weak to Void, Weak to Cold, Weak to Mental…!@lks$6*79laksj……
Joe’s eyes narrowed, Wait. Did this thing just glitch out?
Monster Invasion: Gharial
Crocodilian General (80)
HP: 20000
Status: Enraged
Immune to Poison, Resistant to Fire, Resistant to Slashing
Weak to Void, Weak to Cold, Weak to Mental Manipulation
“Holy shit!” Shocked, Joe shouted, “Everyone back off, this thing just jumped to level 80!!” And it has a name now too?
Kier stood frozen next to Joe, his mouth agape, “Tis nae possible!”
Iona and Rory were hard pressed to back away as Gharial roared its defiance and brought its enormous sword down on Iona’s glowing shield. With a thundering crash, Iona’s magical defenses shattered and the massive khopesh split her physical shield. As she cried out in pain, Rory rained a cascade of hammer blows to the immense crocodilian’s side, drawing its attention away from Iona.
“’That’s a’right you clarty ballsack! Come dance with’ old Rory!” The red mist that accompanied Rory’s berserk abilities covered him in a haze as he traded blows with the monster.
Bixby howled and the beast paused for a moment, but it was not enough of a distraction to break its focus on fighting Rory. Bixby then switched to his usual hit and run tactics, but his teeth and claws were not doing much damage.
Iona had backed up to the bottom of the steps and shook her broken shield from her arm. Kier laid a hand on her shoulder and Joe watched the soft glow of a healing spell envelope her. “T’was my last shield. I’ll be hampered in me fighting without one.”
“Hold on.” Joe said. He quickly opened his inventory and scanned through to the dragon hoard. He found the golden shield he had seen when he first looted the nest. He had not bothered to Identify it since it had been a part of the much larger hoard and until this moment, he had forgotten all about it. He pulled it from Inventory and handed it to Iona. “Here, I hope this helps.”
Reflection of Lanthus
This ornately gilded, golden heater shield was forged by the ancient smith, Sambor Une. It was imbued with magic by the clerics of the Light of Lanthus. If the wielder is hit with a melee attack, they may expend one charge to reflect the force of that attack back upon the attacker as a shockwave. This reflected attack cannot be blocked or parried. The shield can hold four charges and it regains its charges at the dawn of each day. Additionally, while wielding the Reflection of Lanthus, the wielder may not be blinded, charmed, frightened, paralyzed or stunned.
“You sure know how to dazzle a lass with the gifts.” She smiled while adjusting the arm straps.
Joe winked at her then Blinked to the left of the Crocodilian General and lashed out with his blades, which cut into the heavy scales of its leg but did no appreciable damage. The creature turned to look down at him and it seemed to smile. “Double Fuck!” he exclaimed.
It swung its sword at Joe who Blinked backwards out of range and then turned its attention back to Rory. Joe could see that Rory had taken a beating already and was down to almost half his Health. As the monster was distracted fighting Rory, Joe leaped up onto its back and slammed his swords down as hard as he could into the things heavily armored neck. His swords slid in with a huge amount of resistance, but they penetrated and drew blood. The beast roared in pain and spun in place to dislodge Joe who leapt off and landed in the swamp without a ripple or splash. Bixby took the advantage and leapt for its throat only to be caught by a fist and slammed forty feet into the trees. Bixby disappeared from view into the dark swamp water.
“Bixby!!” Joe could see Bixby’s Health in his screen. The General had dropped nearly a third of Bixby’s Health with that one blow. That moment of fear cost Joe. The monstrous crocodilian tail whipped into Joe with the force of a speeding train and sent Joe spinning and sliding into the trees and bushes. Joe hit face first into the trunk of a cypress tree and felt blood erupt from his nose and mouth. He looked at his status and saw that he was inflicted with Internal Bleeding. He coughed up some blood as he pulled his black leather face mask down. Taking in a huge gasp of air, he fumbled with his flask and drank down a long swallow of water. The blinking status ailment disappeared. Looking at his Health bar he was shocked. Holy shit this thing did almost eight hundred points of damage in one shot! New goal, do not get hit!
Through the trees he could hear the sounds of battle and knew he had to get back into it to help his friends. He rose to his feet and as he took a step, he heard a small splash next to him. He moved just in time to avoid the snapping jaws of a huge crocodile as it lunged out of the muck at him.
Monster Invasion: Crocodile Guardian (20)
HP: 800
Status: Hungry
Immune to Poison, Resistant to Fire, Resistant to Slashing
Weak to Void, Weak to Cold, Weak to Mental Manipulation, Weak to Piercing
“Fucking really?!” Joe shouted to no one in particular. The crocodile hissed and lunged again, its mouth a gaping cavern of teeth. Eyebrows drawn into an angry bunch; Joe summoned his swords back to his hands. “Yeah. Okay. Fine.” He leaped up and over the beast and landed straddling its back and plunged his swords down into its neck. The monster made a weird bellowing noise and rolled over to try and dislodge the blades. Joe let it spin in place and as its belly rolled into view, Joe planted a hand on its neck right at the jawline and pinned it in place. His vastly superior strength was a match for the beasts own wriggling fury and as it tried vainly to remove itself from Joe’s grasp, he plunged one of his blades into the scaled beast’s throat over and over. “Die! You! Fucking! Asshole!” Joe yelled. He could feel the edge of his Bestial Fury ability taking hold which forced him to calm down. The crocodile was dead and he stopped to control his breathing. Going berserk is definitely not the right thing to do right now. A yell from Iona jerked him back to action and he spun and cast Haste.
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He burst back into the battlefield to see Iona peeling herself out of one of the walls of the fort. Just like in a cartoon. Man, she is tough. Kier finished chanting and a peal of thunder sundered the air as a bolt of lightning lit the sky and crashed down into the raging General. That bolt was followed by another, and Joe watched Kier drop to his knees with exhaustion, his Stamina had taken a huge hit and he was left with just a few hundred.
The lightning attacks had the intended effect though, Gharial’s body spasmed and it dropped its sword. Bixby, back from where he had been tossed earlier was circling, looking for an opportune moment to dash in and attack. Then Joe watched as Rory, cursing up a storm, leaped in and bashed the monster’s knee with the spiked end of his hammer. That same knee had a crusting of ice in several wounds. Iona’s axe at work. Good. Rory’s attack caused the beast to drop to one knee and lash out at him. Rory tanked the hit and a flurry of swords made up of the red mist around his body appeared and sliced into the General’s arm. “C’mon you overgrown ballbag! I can do this all day!” He continued to swing his hammer and pound the crocodilian. Joe saw that the thing was down a third of its health. Wow! Rory is a beast! Unfortunately, looking at Rory’s status, Joe could see that he was under half of his Health. He can’t actually do this all day.
With a Dwarvish battle cry, Iona launched herself at the monster. Winter’s Bite found its mark and bit deeply into the General’s side. It swept a hand at the armored dwarf only to have its enormous fist bounce off her new golden shield. The axe wound frosted over, and ice crept outward from the cut.
Joe rolled his shoulders and Blinked onto the beast’s back. With his left hand, he clung to the ornate armored collar it wore and cupped his right hand over its right eye. A heartbeat later he unleashed Dragon’s Fire directly into its eye. Iona and Rory both scrambled out of the way of the backwash. The fire caused the General to go into a frenzy. It batted at Joe who leaped off before getting pummeled by the maddened titan. Joe was satisfied to see that even with its innate resistance to fire, his attack tore a huge chunk of its Health off. On the downside, because of using Blink Step so much, Joe did not have enough Mana to try that again. The bestial giant batted at the flames on its head while all three dwarves took the opportunity to attack it. It staggered and spun to lock its remaining good eye on Joe.
“I eat you!” It roared. Joe watched as the claws on its hands began to glow a fiendish orange.
“Och, you pissed it right off laddie!” Rory yelled with glee.
“It talks?” It lunged forward after Joe with its claws giving off the sickly orange light and a smell like burning garbage. Joe backed up quickly, but the thing continued to follow him. Very quickly, Joe realized that the monstrosity was ignoring the pot shots the dwarves were taking and it was single-mindedly coming after him. Joe had a thought and smiled. Okay, let’s see how much we can hamper its ability to fight. Joe called out, “Come and get me you ugly mother!” Then he dashed into the trees.
With a tree shaking bellow, it crashed through the swamp after him. Joe dashed around the trunks of cypress and dodged roots, his Pass Without Trace spell allowing him to move nimbly and efficiently unhindered. Gharial on the other hand simply bulled its way through, smashing the trees and trampling the undergrowth. With thundering splashes, it chased after Joe.
Looking back over his shoulder, Joe barely registered that the thing was practically on top of him when a searing pain swept across his back. Several notifications popped up which he ignored, but he could see that his Health had taken a horrific hit. He was down to just over a fifth of his Health. The attack seemed to have completely ignored his armor and the pain was incandescent, but his True Grit ability allowed him to keep from passing out. The wound sizzled on his back in a blaze of pain, but he knew he had to stick to his plan.
After only a minute, Joe, breathing through the pain, found a suitable space full of thick cypress and turned to face the oncoming behemoth. I hope to God this works! It smashed its way into the thicket of trees and swept its hands at Joe. And they passed right through him. This caused Gharial to stop in bewilderment. Perfect! Thought Joe with a wicked smile as he leapt forward, almost hugging the General, and lashed out with Umbral Soul Strike. The black shadowy spears surged out of Joe’s armor in all directions, and the spell did its job. Half a dozen spears slid fluidly into Gharial’s stomach and thighs. It roared and launched itself backwards to remove itself from the spikes and bounced off a huge cypress tree. As it rebounded, Joe thrust both his swords forward into the unprotected belly of the General. Here the armor was thinnest and the swords’ ability to partially ignore his opponents armor came into play. They slid in up to the hilt and then something happened.
A howl of what Joe could only describe as unfettered delight erupted from his swords. Smokey tendrils of shadow spewed out of the twin wounds and quickly crawled over Gharial’s body like a living cloud of darkness. Joe was unable to release his grip on the swords and a thrumming power reverberated through his arms. He heard a voice in his head. It was deep and sonorous, and a second voice echoed after it. The voices felt like joy and desire, mania and hunger all at once. “We feed!” Joe had just enough time to see Iona and Bixby come into sight among the trees when a huge plume of shadow smoke disgorged from Gharial’s eyes and streamed into both of Joe’s.
Joe’s mind was a whirlwind of chaotic, disjointed thoughts. He felt as if his mind was about to fracture, then came a wave of euphoria like he had never known. Better than that one time he’d gotten high in high school. Better than the best sex he’d ever had. Better even than when he had fallen in love with Carly Shuster that one summer. Images of two shadow shrouded beings with dark eyes that promised ruin and relief in equal measure faced him. Even without features, he could tell that they smiled. “Thank you master.” Then, with smoky arms they embraced him, and a shudder of power flowed through Joe.
He cried out in exquisite pain, then dropped to his knees. The husk of Gharial the Crocodilian General collapsed to the swamp floor with a splash. Through a haze, Joe could hear voices calling to him, but they seemed ephemeral and unimportant. He sat on his knees up to his hips in the stagnant swamp staring at the twin blades held before him. They emanated a feeling of contentment with a slight undertone of hunger. Joe was in shock, but not in pain. His mind wandered to see that his Status showed him at full Health, Mana and Stamina. Huh. Weird. As if moving through a dream, he turned his head and saw Iona kneeling before him, her helmet off and her face covered in splashes of green and red blood. She was saying something and gesturing at his outstretched blades.
Something wet hit his face and a cool wind seemed to blow the cobwebs from his consciousness. He came to himself with Bixby licking his face and letting out a whimper. Joe turned to look at Bixby and received a tongue across his mouth and up his nose. With a quick thought, he dismissed his swords and wrapped his arms around Bixby, holding him tightly like a lifeline. “Oh shit! Oh, Bix, what the hell just happened?” Holding Bixby was the grounding he needed. Something like a deep breath in his soul let go and a tsunami of relief filled him. He hugged Bixby tighter, and for just a moment, the euphoric feeling from the swords returned then faded to a wonderous and surprising feeling. Joe kissed Bixby on the head then leaned his forehead onto Bixby’s.
Joe gazed at Iona who was kneeling in the brackish water a few feet away from him. Kier and Rory were standing a respectful distance back. They all looked wiped out, but Rory was grinning like a maniac. “You guys good?” Joe asked.
Kier blew out a breath, “I feel right knackered lad, but mostly unharmed.” The look he gave Joe, though, was one of intense curiosity tinged with just a bit of fear.
Rory, despite his low Health and Stamina was bouncing on his heels, “Joe, me lad, you gave it laldy that’s for what! That fight was pure barry! Didja see the experience? The manky dobber was mad with it!” Rory’s gaze indicated that he was looking at his own notification screens, “I gained another level! Har!”
Iona grabbed Joe’s attention and he turned to face her directly, she then asked what Kier so obviously wanted to, “At the last, there, what was that? It looked as though you were eaten by shadows. And the look upon your face…” She shuddered and her eyes searched his as if to compel the answer.
Joe sagged a bit more into the water, but Kier spoke before Joe could, “T’was the swords.” His voice held a note of sorrow.
Iona turned back towards Kier, “What? I donnae ken.” She turned back when Joe spoke.
“He’s right.” Joe added. “I think they pulled the soul from it.” His nod indicated the body of Gharial. “They have a very small chance to kill an enemy and absorb its soul, and apparently, this was a lucky strike. Although, from the look on Kier’s face, I’d say, maybe not so lucky?” Everyone turned to face Kier who had made his way to sit on a nearby tree root that was mostly out of the water.
“Kier?” Iona’s voice held a note of worry.
Kier held up his hand, “Stay your woes, Princess. I can only guess eh’ what? And I have nae much to really go by.” He took off his helmet, placed it in his lap and ran a hand through his sweat matted hair. “I had cause to take a look at Joe’s swords. I know nae much of soul stealing weapons, but I do know some legends. Most’re bleak and say that weapon’s of that ilk are cursed and will eventually corrupt their master, as the drinking of souls is said to be intoxicating and addictive. But…” He held up his hand again to quell Iona’s remarks, “Lemme finish. There’re a few that say otherwise. When we find a Shoppe, we can look for information on these specific weapons and learn what we can. Until then, we can be glad that Joe is well and unharmed.” He smiled somberly.
Joe smiled broadly and Bixby wagged his tail hard enough to splash swamp water everywhere. Joe said,” Thanks for having my back guys. I truly lucked out in meeting you.”
“Aw, pish tosh.” Rory waved a hand at Joe. “Don’t go getting all sappy. You’ll ruin the festive mood.” At Rory’s words, the group laughed and the tension in the air evaporated.