Dale stared at the monstrosity facing them. It looked like a cross between a battletech style mech and a living organism. Veins, above the gross looking ropy muscles, pulsed as fluids pumped through them. Gears, cylinders, and metal bars blended with configurations of flesh.
According to Ichnick, it was an ogre. Heavily modified and substantially rebuilt. Dale figured ‘ogre’ was the best term of any he could think of.
The mechanized ogre was currently weaving back and forth on two spindly looking metal feet. The legs didn’t look like they could hold up the massive blob of machine and flesh that was the upper body.
Xilbit was about to say something. Dale just stared at him with an eyebrow raised. He looked away sheepishly. Yes a little humor is always welcome, but right now he needed to think not laugh.
“I know, attack.” Dale murmured to the kobold who grinned at the response. “We’re lucky that thing is just standing there weaving back and forth.”
“Make slick?” Xilbit asked, waving the end of his spear toward the ground beneath the feet of the creature.
Dale shook his head. “It’d cause us more problems than it would cause the monster.” He pointed at the spindly metal feet. “It looks like the feet have spikes to keep it from slipping and sliding.”
“Ogres are notoriously tough creatures.” Ichnick remarked.
Dale sighed. “I know, we’re potentially fucked. We don’t do enough damage even together. This is going to be painful no matter how we set it up.”
Steven was standing off to the side. Dale looked over at him.
“You, Anna, Ichnick, and the other healing kobold will stay together and range attack from back here. We’ll need your wife coming in for attacks of opportunity. She stays behind the main line. When she sees a solid opening, she strikes then retreats. No heroics.” Mary was nodding along with Steven. Dale turned to Xilbit. “The rest of us will form a line and advance together. If someone gets injured, they go back to the healers. Then they come back to the line.”
Xilbit nodded and began a long hiss and click dialogue for the kobolds that didn’t have a strong grasp on English or what Dale had learned they called ‘common tongue’ on their world. After a few minutes, all the kobolds were resolute in their expressions.
Dale could see they were shaking and he himself was terrified. The only reason he wasn’t falling to pieces is because he’d faced enemy fire before a few times. That experience at least allowed him to not give completely over to his fear. Nothing could remove that fear completely.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
The group advanced together. Dale walked at a glacial pace to keep from leaving the kobold’s behind.
When the ogre saw them, it grinned. A flash of weakness swept through Dale’s knees. He gritted his teeth and pushed forward. The ogre started to move toward them. Metal ground against the asphalt of what used to be the main road through the housing complex.
The squelching and wheezing sounds coming from the thing roiled Dale’s stomach. This thing looked like it shouldn’t even be alive, let alone walking toward them with a grin on its face.
Dale formed the defense shield spell in his mind. During the walk from Rock Hill, they played around with excitation magic. The wonderful thing they discovered was that excitation also dealt with kinetic energy.
The ogre’s twisted metal club flying through the air, whistling with power and speed, froze an inch from Dale. Dale skittered back, then stabbed the ogre in the forearm, aiming for the elbow joint. He missed. Spears may seem like a simple weapon, but being accurate against a moving target was hard.
The ogre roared!
Xilbit shot in and stabbed up in the groin area before moving back to the line.
The monster wound back up for another strike, ignoring the failure as a fluke it seemed. Dale watched it fly through the air and right into another small shield.
These were small discs of absorption that bled off the kinetic energy of the club. Most of the momentum disappeared from the swing as a result.
The club clipped the kobold next to Xilbit and sent it spinning through the air back toward the healers. The kobolds tightened up formation, not even needing to be told.
Dale stabbed at the forearm again, missing the joint once more. Fluids were starting to spill onto the pavement. Luckily, the road was made less than a decade ago so it still peaked in the middle and sloped down toward each side of the road. The fluids were going straight toward a drainage opening.
Mary darted forward and stabbed the ogre in the side while it was trying to bring the club back around for another swipe at Dale and the kobolds.
At nearly the same time, two bolts of fire came from Ichnick and Anna to slam into the ogre on the same side Mary was attacking. Having Anna add another type of magic had cost some points, but it made her the most versatile weapon in their arsenal right now.
All three attacks together overbalanced the ogre along with the massive club it was swinging. It tried to step out with its left leg to compensate.
Dale hollered and used every ounce of strength to stab his spear blade into the left knee.
It worked!
The ogre’s left leg gave out and it fell down. It let go of the club to try and keep itself from hitting its head.
Dale yanked his spear back but it was stuck in the joint. He let go of the shaft and snatched a spear from one of the kobolds. He stabbed the blade of that spear into the ogre’s eye as hard as he could.
Metal screeched!
That spear also stuck fast. Dale couldn’t push it further in or pull it out.
The kobolds didn’t need to be told to charge. They all sprinted forward together and started stabbing and hitting the ogre with their weapons. Each was screaming out the fear and exhilaration of the moment.
After a couple minutes, the ogre was completely still.
Dungeon level one boss defeated! Level two not formed.
The dungeon must have only recently formed around the neighborhood. Thankfully it wasn’t completed yet so they wouldn’t have to face more. Finally, it was time to start looking for Dale’s kids.