The letters swam around on the paper, the words teasing her as they respelled themselves over and over, forming new and nonsensical words as if to taunt her. Skull hoped against hope that somehow she would find a way through this trial.
[Command]
“Heed my words. Gather Chooka and Alterez and withdraw from the cave. My pets will be fighting two dragons outside. Your first priority is to protect Chooka. Your second priority is to stay in reserve in case Wyverns or other dragons show up to aid the dragons. Your third priority is to assist them to prevent their deaths. I want my pets to grow stronger from this challenge. Heed your Master’s words and [Obey]!”
The first Skill from Master distracted Skull from her paperwork and gave her a new purpose. The second sent a wave of pain crashing through her as it also empowered her, giving her the strength and resolve to see things through. Master normally was not so rough, even when she asked for it, for he was a compassionate and gentle sort, but the Skill was designed to counter the very thing that Skull had found herself under: compulsions, charms, and other forms of mind-control. At least it was the good kind of pain, like an electrical shock down her body, and not a headache or paperwork.
“I must go now, my Master needs me.”
“Then I will go, too,” replied the secretary as she hopped off her chair and over the counter. She removed her glasses, setting them down as she jumped off the counter and onto the floor.
“Betray me,” Skull said flatly as if discussing the weather, “and I will cut you down.”
“None of that to be had,” answered the kobold as she raised her hands to show she was no threat. “Your master is contesting my own in a battle for ownership. As such, I need not follow my master’s commands at this time. I do rather hope your master wins.”
Skull nodded knowingly, the nature of kobolds no secret to her. They followed the strongest, acting with the morals that aligned with their master’s and in the mannerisms that suited them in the moment. A bit dramatic with a flare for stories and stereotypes, but manageable.
Skull marched swiftly to the next room, barely even slowing her stride to grab Chooka by the back of her vest and yank her along, the flaps of which stubbornly refused to offer a glimpse of the prizes hidden beneath. The two bearded kobolds shared a look with the secretary and then followed along silently. In the next room, Skull let out a piercing whistle, motioning Alterez to huddle ‘round.
“The Master has ordered me into combat. You two are to attend. You kobolds may accompany us if you would like to. We are to keep Chooka alive, stay in reserve to intercept wyverns or other dragons, and offer aid only if The Master’s pets should risk dying. You will comply.” Mechanical in her delivery, [Obey] spurred Skull to action and brooked no backtalk.
“I will lead ya’s to where the fight’s gonna be.”
The fancily dressed kobold with the strange small weapon led them down a tunnel past more rooms. The Master stood in a large cavern, transforming before their very eyes into his draconic form. Skull spared a glance to Alterez who looked on with eyes wide open. Apparently, The Master had overlooked a part of his plan, for now the goblin knew of Master’s true form. Such a secret would probably be kept, but Skull contemplated a blade swinging through his neck just to be sure. However, Master had not ordered thus, so she would wait and see how things played out.
Ahead of them in a straight tunnel that angled upwards towards sunlight, Skull caught a glimpse of the silhouette of four long necks that would undoubtedly be The Boys. At as swift of a march as the others could manage, all too slow considering the short stature of all else but Chooka, Skull led her troop up the tunnel as she donned her helmet.
By the time they reached the top, the pets were already in position for a brawl out in an open field while the dragons soared overhead to circle them. Behind them, the ascent up the mountain offered a little hill upon which they could watch and be ready to offer aid. Continuing on, she marched them up the hill, with Alterez huffing and puffing a little from the exertion.
“Stay alert; be ready for wyverns,” Skull commanded while she drew her sword.
Skull moved through her forms, swinging her sword in a series of arcs and thrusts, preparing her [Shadow Killers] for their attacks, should she need them. After two dozen such movements, she ceased, and while keeping an eye on the battle, she remained vigilant against any other dragons, lesser or greater, that may dare approach.
The fight stalled out early on, largely due to the fact that dragons like to fly and bombard foes that cannot fly, which certainly includes Hydras and Giant Frogs. Both sides were getting a feel for what each other could do before committing to anything serious. Skull had gotten into better fights in Shrine Day School. It would eventually heat up, but until one side feared for its life, Skull remained unimpressed.
“That’s a nice piece ya’s gots there,” said the kobold with the strange weapon. “What is it, the Gyrating Automatic Targeting Laser Induction Nanomagical Gun v4, or maybe v5?”
“Close,” replied Chooka with a smile as she turned and gave the connoisseur of heavy ordinance a beaming smile. “This was custom made for my 5 times great-granddaddy by the legendary artillery manufacturer, Helmsworth Wellerbottom, himself! That must be over 600 years ago, I reckon, and they don’t make these bad boys any more, largely on account of the creator dying and not passing on his crafting secrets.”
“A beautiful piece of hardware, but far too big for me. I prefer my Target Obliterating Magic Induction Gnomish Urban Neutralizer,” he responded while patting the stock of his weapon. “Doesn’t pack a punch like yours does, but it is great for hit and run attacks.”
“Does it still perform the same role as a shield shredder?” Chooka leaned down to inspect the kobold’s weapon while showing off her own.
“Not quite. The ammo is designed to bypass wards that detect incoming high-speed projectiles. In the heyday of these things, all the rage was using rapid response shields that were only big and strong enough to stop one projectile. Wards were used to detect and calculate the trajectory of incoming attacks and a person typically had some related device that would then automatically deploy the magical shield. It was seen as cheaper than maintaining a big shield all the time, less draining on the mana supply, but clearly that strategy has a drawback that this gun can take advantage of.”
“Huh, that’s a neat way of going about it. I never thought of that,” replied Chooka as the two of them ogled each other’s weapons. “Mine is loaded with an even but randomly sorted stock of ammo, typically with 8 elements of magic present. Combined with varying intensity and speed as provided by each individual barrel, it was designed to overload auto-adjusting shields that would attune to the intensity and nature of whatever magical element was being thrown at it. It isn’t as effective on actual armor or flesh compared to other weapons, but the rate of fire and the breadth of the types of wounds it can inflict makes medical treatment a nightmare. I think some countries ban these for reasons related to war crimes.”
And on and on the two went, both nerding out about their fancy guns. The kobold even slipped out of his accent due to his enthusiasm. At least they were not actual firearms using gunpowder and physical ammunition. Those things were banned for good reasons, those reasons usually outlined in various treaties between nations under the category of, “let’s not have the gods wipe out civilization again.”
Skull still preferred a good sword or some other piece of trusty steel at her side, all the better to get in close and see the fear in the eyes of your enemies before taking their lives. And besides, melee weapons were versatile and required actual skill, whereas a person using ranged weapons, once countered by an opponent’s strategy or equipment, just became extra baggage. Such was a reason why bows and crossbows were not a staple of combat doctrine between large armies and why those weapons were mostly used by scouts or small raiding parties. One good magical [Wind Wall] blowing away incoming projectiles made such things obsolete.
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“Eyes up, we have enemy contact.”
Skull silently offered a prayer to Gulthar for the oncoming challenge and a break from all the gun-talk. Three wyverns flew down the mountain at them, their mouths agape and ready to spew some manner of breath attack down upon them.
Chooka took a wide stance, her torso lowered, with her left foot out front and her right leg back, her hips angled to provide stability for her cumbersome weapon. A rainbow of death rose up from the rotating barrels of her weapon as each element in turn spewed forth in tight beams of light from those muzzles of destruction. The first wyvern took a good raking across his head, chest, and feet, but being that the wyvern was flying straight at them, its profile was rather limited for solid hits.
Likewise, the little scamp of a kobold led the other three in an assault, each having a weapon similar to his as they opened fire in unison at the same lead wyvern. Where they had been storing them, Skull could not say, just that they seemingly appeared in a moment when she took her eyes off them.
The wyvern, much worse for wear, having not yet entered range to open fire, continued stubbornly forward into the hail of elemental gunfire. Its right wing frosted over from the secretary kobold’s purely Ice aligned ammunition, and with the lopsided weight and reduced maneuverability imposed by ice, it careened hazardously to crash sidelong into the mountainside. That one would not be getting up anytime soon, if ever.
The other two wyverns continued unabated. Hardy bastards, they were designed to take a beating while other dragons could muster to reinforce those fighting off invaders to their master’s lair. Ornery, too, for with angry roars they unleashed bolts of Fire-infused goop at them. Undoubtedly sticky, getting hit by that would be a terrible way to die, so Skull took action.
Turning her back to the enemy, Skull kneeled on one knee. With her sword planted in front of her, she leaned her head onto the blade and whispered an incantation to Gulthar.
“I fear not the enemy at my back, for Gulthar protects the worthy!”
Almost instantly, a great mantle of shadow, like a cape, sprung from Skull’s shoulders, growing exponentially in size and enveloping the entire front side of them in a protective layer of Shadow magic that drained the energy of the incoming shots. Not only did it arrest the forward momentum, but it also devoured the magical energy within and delivered a portion of it to Skull. A full dozen blows impacted impotently on her [Shadow Veil], a powerful Ability granted by Gulthar to his favored [Divine Champion], Skull. Sadly, it was not a Skill, or otherwise she would most likely be able to skip over the incantation.
The two wyverns landed, one on either side. Unlike most dragons with four limbs and two wings, they had two thick hind legs and their wings were part of their forward arms. This made their tail and neck shorter, their body stockier, and overall more durable than their true dragon counterparts. They were not especially dangerous to a Platinum Adventurer like Skull, but they were still rather time-consuming to kill, for they could shrug off blows that would kill most creatures.
“You lot take that one over there; this one here is mine,” Skull commanded as she turned to face her new dance partner.
The gaggle of kobolds, the goblin, and the remnimi heeded her word as law, and together they circled around their target like a pack of wolves taking down an elk. One of them summoned up large cubes of wood for cover, and the lot of them darted in and out to pepper the wyvern with a hail of gunfire before retreating.
Reasonably sure they could manage, Skull focused on the task at hand. Your run-of-the-mill Gold Adventurer was expected to be capable of taking a wyvern in single combat, of which the greatest difficulty is isolating one from a pack to test that theory out. Skull herself had killed two wyverns in her day, although never as a solo fight. However, confidence welled up within her, not just because she was fearless, but because she knew her capabilities and limits far better than she did in her youth.
Seizing the initiative, Skull rushed in at an oblique angle, closing the distance to get beside it before it could muster up a breath attack. Sluggish on the ground, wyverns could still have small busts of incredible speed, and indeed they favored instilling overconfidence in their foes before snatching them up suddenly after taking a sustained beating. Not incredibly intelligent creatures, but deadly cunning where it counts, the wyvern pivoted too slowly to face its attacker, opting instead to shield itself with its wing while sidestepping away into a lumbering turn to face Skull.
Skull unleashed her [Shadow Killers], the shadowy phantoms of herself that rushed forward and performed the same strikes she had performed earlier. The wyvern hunkered down, ready to endure the onslaught until it could strike back. However, her phantoms were not so mindless in their approach, for they struck at vulnerable points along its body rather than waste their energy impotently upon its wings. The creature roared in protest, but Skull did not wait around to admire her work, having leapt onto its back to hack away at it. Wearing it down with an attrition of blows was the safe way, but the longer Skull took, the less able she would be able to protect Chooka and her Master’s pets. She felt compelled to [Obey], but restrained herself lest haste make waste. And so she would have to “peel the onion” as Master liked to say, for her fight had only just begun.
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Gambino found himself thankful that he had the right Skills to fight the wyvern. [Writer’s Block] had produced five foot cubes of dense wood to act as obstacles and cover for him and his troupe. A summoned work of sturdy construction, they would disappear back to the nether or wherever they came from when the duration ended, but for now, they remained a key to their strategy. [Plot Armor] had saved him from a nasty death by sticky flaming goop that would have caught him straight in the chest when he made a mistake in his timing, but fortunately, his two allied kobolds with the Blessing of [Background Character] yet lived. For what boss in the stories ever dies before his underlings are all dead? [Encore] allowed him to create a [Doppelgangster] that would repeat his last series of attacks, increasing his throughput on whittling down the wyvern.
In spite of the attempted beatdown, the hulking brute continued to persist despite the brutal punishment it was taking from the five of the gunners. The goblin had yet to attack, instead running around and handing out small samples of food and drink. Gambino sure did feel empowered by the offering of victuals, his mana regenerating almost as fast as he could spend it, so the goblin certainly pulled his weight. After all, the gun drains mana with each shot, and considering the sheer number of shots he had put into the creature, he would have passed out from exhaustion long ago.
However, things were going well until they didn’t. The two [Background Characters] crashed into each other and fell to the ground in a heap. Gambino tried to use [Limelight] to distract the creature, but such were its resistances to mental persuasion or so enthusiastic was it about an opportunity to strike back that it ignored the effect. Not even [Curtain Call] could save the duo as a massive maw of piercing fangs descended upon them, tearing them apart and crunching down on their broken bodies. Fortunately, each used [Hilwelm’s Piercing Scream] as they died, which convinced the creature to eject them from its mouth rather than to swallow them down. That would certainly simplify their revival if they could get access to dragon eggs later.
The tall red and blue one, with a defiant yell, led a charge, blasting the wyvern at close range with empowered shots. Most likely she flipped the selector switch to Close Range to overcharge the firepower at the cost of effective range. It would overheat soon if she maintained it, but inspired by her daring, Gambino and Bambina also rushed forward to kill or stun the wyvern with withering fire.
That was when the goblin decided to jump into its mouth. Not near its mouth, but straight in, you know, where all the teeth and breath attacks like to be. Gambino considered that a [Dirge] or [Eulogy for the Dead] would be needed soon to bless the goblins' bones, that they may complete the journey to the far south, but matters unfolded in a way that suggested such measures would not be needed.
With a guttural and final roar, the creature staggered side to side before collapsing in a heap. The goblin popped out of its mouth like a cork stuffed into the spout of a boiling kettle, his body crashing straight into the open arms and ample bosom of the tall one. They really should have exchanged names during all their gun talking, but such was the wisdom of hindsight.
Too early to celebrate, apparently the fight between the other dragons and the pets of their hopefully soon-to-be Master had reached a key development in the form of a dragon falling out of the sky right on a collision course for their location. A quick glance around revealed that the scary lady was hacking away at the other wyvern, the creature in turn appearing to be on its last legs.
“Get to the chopper!”
The tall one’s scream stirred Gambino to movement. Grabbing Bambina by the hand, he half dragged her as he ran towards the other wyvern fight where the “chopper” was the scary lady chopping away at the wyvern. A sensible enough name for her, but Gambino still preferred “hacker” over “chopper” to describe the process of wyvern killing. It was sporadic and chaotic, not controlled and orderly like chopping wood, but one cannot expect others to be the best at proper word choice in a crisis.
And so the four of them ran over to the scary lady, just in time to evade being caught in the crash of the dragon into the wyvern corpse. Cool kobolds don’t look at dragon crashes, so they continued on without sparing a glance to their defeated foe. This was all shaping up to be a good story for one of their next plays, and so for the first time in a while, Gambino felt happy.