018 - REGICIDE

The line of the Royal guards formed up as the Lizard King, monster though he was, appeared to give orders to prepare to charge.

Conrad stood ready,shield out, Iron club held tight in his right hand. He had pulled new weapons off the Seekers, including the steel short sword Buck had stolen from him when he first joined the band. But he had no practice with any of them and, despite the difference in quality between his club and the sword, Joy’s ax, or even the larger two handed weapons he had pulled off of Karina, the club and Mara’s dagger - secured safely in a sheath at his hip - were the only weapons he really knew how to use.

The man to his right, a Knight, glanced over at him. “You kidding me, man?” he said.

“What?” Conrad asked.

“That club. You’re going to face all this with that?”

Conrad shrugged, “It’s worked pretty well so far.”

“What is it, enchanted or something?” the man on his left, a Heavy Trooper, asked and his eyes flashed with magical light as he cast Identify.

“Nope,” the Trooper added, “Just a club.”

“Well it’s what I’ve got, gentlemen. Don’t worry, I can handle myself,” Conrad said.

“Not next to me you can’t,” the Knight on his right said, “Not with that.”

He sheathed his sword and, out of his inventory, manifested a new item.

“I like to keep this handy,” he said with a grin, offering the weapon to Conrad, “For close encounters.”

Conrad took the weapon and identified it.

Well Crafted Steel Flanged Mace

Rarity: Uncommon

Description: Well crafted, this mace is shorter than most swords but makes up for its lack of reach with its high damage potential. Ideal for ground and pound or softening up a tough target’s defense.

Damage Potential: ☆ ☆ ☆

Defense Potential: ☆

Merchant Class Bonus:

Would you like additional information?

“You’re serious?” Conrad said, immediately sending his old worn club into his inventory. The weapon was only slightly heavier than the club, but more balanced and about the same length. It was a perfect substitute.

“You can’t keep it,” the Knight said, “But for this fight, yeah. Going to make a big difference over that stick you were waving around.”

“Can I buy it off you?” Conrad said, imagining just how much easier his life would have been the past week or so if he had had a weapon like this.

“Sure,” the Knight said, “for four gold!”

He laughed uproariously, as if he had asked for a price far above the actual value of the mace. Conrad glanced at the additional information available to him as a merchant and saw that he could likely flip the weapon for between five and seven gold.

“Deal,” he said, offering the man the coins.

“Happy to take your gold, newbie,” the Knight laughed.

“A pleasure!” Conrad said, feeling the confidence boost of not just a good trade but of having a weapon that was going to make him a force to be reckoned with in the coming fight.

Mara’s voice called out from behind and above the din of the water rushing through the arch of the land bridge, “Are you seriously down there making deals!?”

Conrad turned with a grin, “With deals like these I can’t afford not–”

The Heavy Trooper on his left punched him in the arm, “EYES FORWARD!”

Conrad obeyed but he felt Mara’s grin on his back and, Order bless him, it felt good.

“You know you just got absolutely fleeced, right?” Troy said to the Knight from the row behind where he was prepared to stab over the top of the front line of shield wielders.

The Knight shook his head, “Four gold for a mace? Hardly.”

“Conrad’s a Merchant as well as.. Order’s tits, you’re an Officer now? Tier two already?” Troy said, clearly impressed.

“Wait, he’s a.. you’re a Merchant?” The Knight asked.

Conrad’s heart quickened. How would the man respond to learning he had gotten the worse end of the deal? This was exactly how this whole saga with Karina had started. He braced himself for what might come next but there was no lying about it, not with Troy there explaining it and with his status plain to see for anybody willing to cast Assess.

“Here we go,” he said to himself, then out loud to the man, “That’s right.”

The Knight groaned, “How bad is it? How much could I have gotten?”

“You,” Conrad said, “Got a good deal for not having any Merchant skills. I expect most people would have sold it for three gold. I, on the other hand, can do a little bit better.”

Mollified, the Knight said, “Nevermind, let’s just get through this and maybe you can buy me a beer to celebrate your new weapon.”

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“I’ll take that deal too,” Conrad said and flashed the man a smile. To his surprise, the Knight smiled back.

“LOOSE!” Mara’s voice called from behind them, and three projectiles arced toward the oncoming lizardkin.

“Here we go!” Troy called out.

One arrow missed and another stuck into a chitin shield, but the crossbow bolt slammed straight through another’s upheld shield and sent the Royal Guard to the ground, gurgling.

“Do it again or it’s only luck!” Troy called.

The archers took up the challenge and suddenly dozens of shafts, sent by magic or Order imbued talents, were flying over the head of the line of men ready to stand against the charge of Royal Guards advancing on them. The whole line slowed to a crawl as the Royal Guards formed up, some stragglers on the edges and behind taking wounds or falling over, dead or too wounded to continue the fight.

The bulk of the formation continued forward, but their greatest strength soon became their undoing. Mara unleashed a blast of lightning that exploded into the ground out of the clear “sky” above. The crowd control attack had poor accuracy, but of the several bolts that lanced down two of them burst in the midst of the shield wall, sending lizards to the ground in convulsions, some charred so badly Conrad couldn’t believe there could be any survivors.

But the Royal Guards were no easy meat. The Lizard King pulled a bandolier of vials from his waist and threw them high above the reeling line of lizardkin soldiers. He pointed his spear and a blast of force detonated all of the vials, sprinkling their contents over the entirety of his force.

Blackened lizards returned to their feet, wounds vanishing as they quickly fell back into line, and in the end, Mara’s devastating attack did little more damage than the volley of arrows.

“Good!” Troy called out, quickly earning his space in Conrad’s mind as the group’s hype man, “Make ‘em waste everything before they even get to the line! More!”

Karl fired his crossbow again, taking down another of the lizards, this time a Mauler, and the front liners cheered.

The Lizard King roared and, like the first time Conrad had faced him, imbued all of his fighters with what appeared to be a Tireless buff. Stamina enhanced, the crowd of them charged and in the space of a few heartbeats, slammed into the ready shields of Conrad and his heavily armored companions.

The sheer force and weight of them pushed him back a pace, but over his head a spear shot forward, taking the closest of the lizards through its gaping mouth, retracted, and took another through its exposed neck.

Troy was at every opening, thrusting between, under, and over shields at any unprepared Royal he could reach.

As his opening attack Conrad invoked Imbued Strike, red energy coursing over his weapon and coalescing at the point of impact as he brought the mace down on the head of an unfortunate lizard who, so pressed from behind by the weight of his companions, couldn’t even raise his shield to attempt a block.

He was dead in an instant, but Conrad didn’t waste time admiring the strength of his new skill. He was striking over and over, as quickly as he could, and realized with a shock that he was barely tiring. Recovery Block, one of his new Warrior skills, would trigger occasionally against the constant press of the enemy line and refill a portion of his stamina. This, combined with the stamina saving efforts of Weapon Proficiency on his use of his new mace were making this fight seem effortless.

Bolts and arrows sailed overhead, a few striking the King himself, though the massive lizard seemed not to notice.

Conrad activated Adrenaline Rush to make the most of his early advantages. In the slowed time of his increased speed and perception he watched as Mara unleashed another powerful lightning attack, the same Chain Lightning he had seen her using against the crowded lizards days before. It jumped from lizard to lizard, much too slowly for true lightning but too fast to dodge, causing damage and inflicting minor stun effects and even in a few cases temporary paralysis while the greater mass of the lizards pressed themselves forward into the meat grinder of the melee oriented line of adventurers.

Suddenly, there was a gap in the attacking line.

“Make a hole!” Troy called, and pushed past the blue blood covered shields of Conrad and the Heavy trooper.

With so many of the Royals temporarily incapacitated, Troy invoked a Swordsman skill and made a quick full circle spin with both blades outstretched. An expanding nova of deadly cutting energy flashed outward from the swords and, all around him, blood spurted as limbs and heads separated from confused lizardkin bodies. Before the man could even get bloodied he was back safe behind the lines as the ranged attackers riddled the survivors with arrow after arrow.

“Time to push!” the Knight said, bringing his shield into a low guard as he marched forward, stabbing the fallen and knocking back any Royals still standing.

Conrad and the Heavy Trooper followed suit, killing as they walked. The field before him was littered with corpses and it was only the King and a few remaining Royals standing between them and victory.

The King threw off his cape and grabbed another set of vials from his belt as the remaining Royals formed up in front of him.

“Not good,” Conrad said, just as the King began tossing vials, this time at the adventurers, “Not good!”

He crouched down and raised his shield as magical energy flashed from the King’s outstretched spear and began to burst the bottles like a string of firecrackers.

Beside him the other armored shield bearers had done as Conrad had, and all over their raised defenses acid rained down, hissing and sizzling against metal armor. The spearmen and Troy were in full retreat, cursing as they went and trying to brush the corrosive liquid from their skin.

One of the archers in back went down covering his face, screaming, the burning liquid having caught him in the eyes.

Before they could recover from the attack the remaining Guards were on them, slashing and biting and pressing back the armored men. And in their wake the King came on. He thrust his spear forward, catching the Knight in the shoulder and knocking him to the ground. The guards swarmed, but Mara unleashed another wave of Chain Lightning that blasted all of the lizards cutting at the downed Knight. Conrad hoped she knew the downed Knights defenses better than he did as the effect of the lightning lanced through his prone form alongside the weaker lizards.

In a flash Troy was there, finishing the guards and standing protectively over the wounded knight.

“Focus the King!” He bellowed.

Everything had been in hand before the King really entered the fight, and Conrad knew if something wasn’t done about him quick things could turn deadly.

Activating Adrenaline Rush and from its slowed time state he began to rush the King. Tireless gave new strength to his sprint, Psych Up added precious points to his strength, Scrappy added an additional 15% to his damage with the King being so much higher in levels - everything he had as a new Fighter, Warrior, and Officer he put into working in tandem to enhance himself for an all out assault.

He cast Restrain for the first time, freezing the Lizard King in his tracks, and as he closed the distance, weapon poised for the biggest haymaker of an attack he could manage, he invoked Imbued Strike.

The Lizard King eyed him, his reptile’s vertical pupils dilating, body completely unable to avoid or block the attack. Conrad dropped his shield, and in both hands he swung the imbued mace with every bit of power he had.

The weapon cracked across the face of the King, blasting apart scales and completely ruining one of his eyes. Even despite the immobilizing effect of the Restrain spell, the lizard’s head snapped backward from the force of the empowered blow.

His eyes registered the pain but he wasn’t out of the fight yet. A moment later the spell wore off and the King, with incredible speed, swept Conrad’s legs out from beneath him with its long spear. He raised it to stab down, remaining eye filled with hatred as it took in the man he intended to end with a single thrust of the great weapon.

Then a crossbow bolt slammed into his one remaining eye. The King screamed in pain, reeling back, and then the Heavy Trooper was on him, along with Troy and even the wounded Knight. A ball of magical energy like blue fire slammed into the great beast, and then Conrad, back on his feet, was in and swinging with the rest of them.

A few moments later, the Lizard King lay dead, surrounded by heavy breathing armored fighters, all dripping in blue lizard blood.

Out of courtesy to his new friends, Conrad dismissed the notification letting him know the result of the achievement and called out, “Are we all still here? Does anybody need help?”

The group of adventurers, tired, bloody, exhausted, but exhilarated with the thrill of victory, spent the next few minutes handing out potions and making use of healing bandages before, as a group, they converged on the dead King. The man with the injured eyes waved away help as he joined, the healing potions mercifully having restored his sight.

Some dungeons imbued their boss monsters with treasure items that, when activated, released loot dependant on the performance of the adventurers, as well as their composition when they had killed the boss.

The Lizard King had a small golden box that served this function, and with nods of approval from everyone around him, Conrad stepped forward and activated it.