Axoy wiped his forehead as he watched the sun set. The night shift workers were starting to arrive, but his replacement wasn't there yet. It wasn't a difficult job, but those damned monsters could appear out of nowhere. Less of the mining crew showed up every day. He couldn't blame them for being scared for their lives, but he knew another week of subpar production was going to bring the wrath of Q_T down on his head like a sack of bricks.
Last time, five void monsters had managed to rip up half of the smelter, spilling molten fuel across the mineshaft. Four dead, twenty injured. Explaining that to Q_T wasn't an experience he was eager to repeat. Between shouting at him for being careless and cursing his night shift replacement for being stupid, she'd grudgingly assigned a new guard shift composed of very unqualified mages and a defender. The mages were honestly only good for being monster bait, and the defender was a snob who managed to make Axoy feel like an idiot at least once a day, but he'd saved his life on more than one occasion.
The tent flap opened and Pran looked inside. "Hey. Everything okay in here?"
"I thought you'd never get here," Axoy said wearily. He put down the record book and stood up. "Yeah it's fine. Should be a pretty quiet night. We've both had it easy so far."
"Anything I need to know about?"
"Nope." Axoy looked around but Raidibotti and the mage guards were out of sight. "Between you and me, I know this mine is dying. Too much dust and not enough shards. We're running the smelter overtime, but Q_T is gonna want my head on a plate when she sees the expenses for this month. This can't keep up."
"I mean, you've got a quarter of the crew here too," Pran muttered. "This isn't even the worst of the infested area and everyone's too scared to deal with what we've got going here. Doesn't matter what the House pays. If they can't guarantee our safety, no one's gonna show."
Someone screamed nearby. A bell began to ring outside.
Pran and Axoy looked at each other.
"I knew it couldn't f***ing last." Axoy drew his sword and sprinted through the camp, heading for the mine entrance. Raidibotti was still nowhere to be seen. Top-notch bodyguard, Axoy thought irritably. He yanked the heavy doors open, and stopped in his tracks when he saw the battle raging below the shattered stairs.
No less than six ethereal monsters were tearing through the crowd of panicking miners and mage guards. Fire, ice, and water flew in every direction. As Axoy watched in horror, one of the cryomancers got too close and was thrown against a column. She slid down to the floor, landing in a heap of bloody robes.
"They can't get out unless someone gets those stairs back together. Got my back?" Axoy asked. Pran nodded and drew his own sword. The greenish light of the felflame blade cast a sickly glow over the battle scene.
"Let's go!"
As soon as they landed on the ground level, a shadowy claw swept towards him. Axoy rolled sideways and slashed at the creature's limb, but it boiled away into thin air before the blow could connect. It lunged at him again, a mass of dark clouds and slashing fangs. A flame burst exploded between the monster's glaring purple eyes and it screeched in agony, disintegrating into foul-smelling smoke.
Pran sprinted through the fight and picked up the fallen cryomancer. Axoy grabbed some nearby crates and managed to stack them up until they reached the remains of the stairs. "Retreat! Get to the surface!"
No one needed to be told twice. The mages turned and bolted for the doors. Axoy cast a seismic wave towards the remaining monsters, throwing them backwards into a corner. Pran and an aquamancer were carrying the fallen cryo out of the mine. They would probably be okay. Axoy turned away from the creatures and took a step up the makeshift stairs.
A flicker of movement caught his eye. A seventh monster lunged at him, with outstretched claws. There was no time to react. Axoy tried to raise his sword…
And the claws stopped, inches from his chest. Someone behind him gasped. He heard the soft thump as they collapsed.
What?
He looked down. The green light of an intervene sparkled weakly over his skin. The monster roared in frustration and struck again, but the blows simply glanced off the shield. Axoy backed up and rammed the blade through the creature's eye. It disintegrated like the first one.
Raidibotti lay at the top of the stairs, unconscious and bleeding from the wounds meant for Axoy. He dragged the injured defender the last few feet to the door, then slammed and deadbolted them closed. "Get a pyro and an aqua. I want these sealed shut and he needs healing."
The remaining uninjured mages tottered over and started welding the doors shut with fireballs. An aquamancer summoned up a healing rain over Raidibotti and started trying to clean the hole in his chest with water bolts. Axoy collapsed on a supply crate next to Pran.
"About that quiet evening…" Pran started to say.
"This place is done. There were seven in there. I owe Raidi my life for the hundredth f****ing time. What are our options?"
"The same as always," said Pran helplessly. "Find a new mine and wait until it's too depleted and infested to keep going. Bitch at Q_T until she gives us more guards. I guess we could talk to the College representative for whatever ungodly solution they can cook up, but I don't think Fontn has given a f*** in twenty years."
"Don't make me talk to Q_T again," Axoy growled. "I'd be better off dead."
COMMUNITY DECISION: Seek out a new ore node for mining and request Fontn's help from the College representative, Cthuko