Jophiel and company finally enter the instance, and face the first bit of resistance. Nothing major really. Still, enjoy.
7. The First Defense
Gigantic metal machines hummed a soft buzzing sound which echoed throughout the torch lit cavern walls. Miners flocked in groves and were cut down without much effort. The cavern winded around in a single pathway which lead to a closed door with a hammer wielding, white as a sheet, ogre. His eyes danced from one party member to another and a sickening grin crossed his lips.
"VanCleef pay big for your heads," The monster gushed excitedly. For is huge size, he was sickeningly fast, Jophiel noted.
"I've got him!" Zaries cried. The hammer was swung and Zaries blocked without much effort. The mallet crashed into Zaries's shield and almost sent the warrior crashing to the ground, but through pure self will he held firm "Now!"
As if on cue, Jophiel returned from the shadows, which no one saw him enter, and lunged his Cutlass deep into the back of the monster. The ogre cried out and green blood flowed from his gaping wound on his back. The monster rose his hammer , and to Zaries's surprise, sent the hammer into his chest. The warrior went crashing to the ground.
"Ah shit... my ribs," Zaries cried out. Looking overjoyed he finally had something to do, Noratu rushed over to the injured night elf.
"Elf went splat," the ogre commented hideously and burst into a guffaw . Jophiel leaped backwards, but the monster was too fast. The hammer crashed into Jophiel's frame. The rogue felt a pain in his legs, and then collapsed to the ground. At least one of his legs were broken, and the other might have been as well, he thought. The monster rose his hammer into the sky. Purple colored shards that shattered like glass ripped into the monster's back, and they exploded shards into his chest. The monster only laughed and turned his attention away from Jophiel, and instead to the mage. The monster took a single step before a sword pierced its forehead. The laughing stopped and a strange gasping replaced it. The monster groaned and struggled to regain its composure, but a fireball quickly ended the monster's exercise in futility.
"Hey Noratu... could you get over here and heal me?" Jophiel struggled to speak. Noratu made his way to the rogue and bent over him.
"I could kiss it and make it all better, or I could just cast a healing spell on you, your choice," The priest joked. For a moment Jophiel thought about accepting the kiss, but only for a moment.
8. Differences of Opinion
Jophiel was amazed at how potent the priest's magic actually turned out to be. Within a few minutes he had pushed to his feet and saw Zaries pulling his sword from the fallen monster's forehead. What the hell was the paladin doing? Jophiel wondered to himself. If it weren't for the fact that he liked Noratu, he would have displayed his frustration more verbally; however, he had grown a liking to the priest and didn't want to ruin any chance of friendship (or possibly more) by insulting his obvious friend.
The group continued through the gigantic steel door and sliced their way through another large group of miners. This cavern led to a woodcutting area. What was the Defias cutting wood for? Jophiel believed he would find out before their quest for VanCleef's head was over. The wall shone a calm gold from the furnaces burning all around the room. Goblins worked diligently around the area, welding hatchets in quick movements.
"What's the plan?" Azsharite asked impatiently. Zaries thought for a moment.
"This doesn't seem very dangerous... they are only goblins after all," Zaries replied. Taking this as his cue, Jophiel reached for another throwing knife on his belt, but wasn't allowed the chance. Zaries charged toward the closest three and in one swing lopped them in two. Their torsos spewed a sickening green blood onto the warrior.
"Intruders!" A goblin cried out on the other side of the room. Jophiel rearmed his throwing arm and sent a razor sharp blade into the goblin, who only felt a sharp pain and then fell.
"Shit! Here they come!" Azsharite warned. His prediction was accurate. Half a dozen axe wielding monsters swarmed the elves from all sides.
"Die! Die! Die!" one of the goblins began to chant. The others quickly joined in. Jophiel's Cutlass removed one of the goblin's heads from its neck. The remainder crashed onto the stone flooring.
"Take your own advice," Jophiel spoke and a twisted smile overtook his lips, Zaries seemed to be enjoying the massacre almost as much. The goblins fell, but more replaced them. They fell as swiftly as the first set. This continued until no more goblins came. It was over, Jophiel believed. Then from a mountain of dirt in a darkened corner it came. Azsharite was the first to see the mechanical monster. A giant spinning blade rested upon the end of a metal arm large enough to hold three gnomes comfortably. This arm led to a metal body with a goblin safely behind a thick panel of glass. Azsharite cried out a warning, but by this time, the remainder of the group had already noticed the monstrosity.
"Stay back, he's mine," Zaries insisted. His voice was smooth and filled with... lust? Jophiel wasn't sure, but it sounded as if it were lust. No one argued with his proposition. The warrior charged towards the monstrous device and raised his buckler. The spinning blade made contact with the buckler and in one swift move; Zaries struck the spurring blade with his sword. A loud metallic clang echoed through the room, but the blade never ceased its spinning.
"Ah shit," Jophiel muttered. He ran to his fellow night elf's aid, but it turned out none was actually needed. In one fluid motion, Zaries's sword sliced into the blade once again and cut into it like butter. A large chunk of metal shot from the machine and flew towards Noratu. Jophiel turned to dive towards the priest, but it was not needed. For the first time, Varis the paladin made a move. He shielded the petite priest from the metal shard that would have almost certainly have ended Noratu's life before Jophiel could have even made a move. The chunk of metal crashed into the paladin's mail and crashed harmlessly to the floor.
"I said stay back!" Zaries cried out annoyed as he cut the monster's two metal legs straight through the center. The being fell.
"Don't be so melodramatic," Jophiel quipped back to the warrior.
"Go to hell," Zaries responded as stubborn as one could be.
"Now, now boys, don't fight," Azsharite said then began laughing hysterically, No one else found the humor in his phrase.
"How'd you do that?" Noratu asked from the silence.
"Recklessness," Zaries answered cryptically. Noratu pouted, but did not continue the needless conversation any longer.
"Alright kids... let's go," Azsharite said. Everyone agreed without debate. However, one of the members of the group would never leave the room again.
From here on out, the rest of VC is a bumpy ride, I hope you haven't grown attached to any one character. As I've said before, the action comes to a halt after the Deadmines, for the most part, and the actual plot kicks in, but that's still a little bit of a ways into the future... for now just enjoy my somewhat faithful rendition of the Deadmines.