The air was tense now. We held firmly in place, staring them down. My mana tank was already running on half-empty, a good chunk of us were wounded or dead, and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be long before the heating packs we've been using would run out. The goblins were a complete scatterfuck, only held in place by the need to protect their females. At the very least, they could see that there was a difference between certain death and servitude. And that difference just became us.
Yulg's Paladins were at my side minus one, tending to and assisting the other goblins with their wounded in the back. Normally, I'd rather the big tank be up here with us, but it would probably be better if we came out of this mess with at least a few more goblins. Four of my fellow magic casters were behind us, readying their staves wearily. A small spattering of our fellow warriors and hard hitters lined up, with goblins at their sides. Despite the situation, at least they know to let bygones be bygones for this. After all, something tells me that they weren't going to just stop with the goblins. And that wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was their levels.
Most of the goblins were around level nine or ten, absolutely pitiful really. On the lower end, our lizardmen were at an average of fourteen or fifteen, our highest ranging from seventeen to nineteen. And those guys were far and few among us, only as strong as they were because they were some of Zuko's men loaned out to our group. And unfortunately, even they were looking a little worn out. Now, from what I remember, these levels are most certainly pretty up there when compared to your average Joe Schmoe human outside the forest.
Their weakest guy was level twenty-two.
The bard, despite being a ballsy motherfucker, was in fact the weakest. In order, it was him, the barbarian and the wizard were tied at twenty-three, and the knight at a whopping twenty-five. At this point, our job isn't even going to be to ice these guys, our only objective is to survive until help gets here. At the very least, Rekushio and Todone will help even our odds alongside us. Now despite being such a small gap between them and myself, I wasn't too keen on fighting them due to a few factors. Experience and gear being foremost. Though most of their gear was probably akin to steel at most, the knight's shield definitely wasn't steel. If I had to guess, mythril.
Funny thing how adrenaline works. Despite all those thoughts to myself, only two or three seconds probably passed in the real world.
"Candies! Now!" I shouted, following up with a spellcast to cover us and buy time. "{Widen Magic: Entangle!}"
Right out the gate, I sent another burst of thorns out to cover and guard us, completely blocking off the path between them and us as everyone popped whatever potion candy they needed most. The barbarian happened to be charging as it raised upward, snagging at the thorns and brambles.
"Gghrh, raaaagh!"
My eyes widened as I felt the vines I had raised snapping under tension and getting pulled from the roots as they attempted to ground him down and keep him from slowing down. Some of our own made their own attempts to attack him, by arrow and knife. Unfortunately, the wizard was ahead of us before anything major could be dealt.
"{Iron Barrier}!" The wizard shouted, forming a gray metallic sheen around the barbarian, giving him additional resistance to the thorns as well as forcing the arrows and knives to bounce.
"Focus on the bard and the wizard! They'll be our main issues!" I shouted. "Maintain agility around the barbarian, he can only hit you if he can catch you! {Ice Knife}!"
I sent a shard at the wizard in an attempt to at least stall him, but was unpreasantly surprised to see that the knight was fast. His shield raised and swung out, glowing and deflecting the ice knife rather than shattering it. I barely managed to duck downward as it flew where my head would have been. So that's what the shield does. Let's see if this works.
I picked a pebble up off the ground and focused my mana into another spell as I heard the bard strum up his lute. Yeah, like I'm gonna let that happen. It didn't need to be painful, it just needed to land. "{Ensnaring Strike}!"
I threw the pebble again, but this time I wasn't aiming for the wizard. Just as the bard was about to open his mouth, the knight blinked to the side to protect him. I wasn't aiming for the bard either, however.
The knight stumbled, grunting as he tried to move. Though I knew it wouldn't last longer than a moment with him, I needed him off for the moment. Unfortunately, the barbarian picked that moment to come free with his maul swinging wide. I rolled back and lost my footing, attempting to avoid broken ribs and internal bleeding.
"Ahahahah! I'm going to grind your bones into meal, stranger!" He shouted, before bringing that heavy hammer overhead and slamming into the ground that I was laying on a second prior. Fuck, alright, you want muscle? I got muscle.
"{Conjure Animals}!" I shouted, sending forth the largest circle I could muster.
The barbarian attempted to stop me but it was too late. His swinging arm was stopped by an ivory, ghostly bear claw, followed by the beast clamping down onto his neck. Regardless, he struggled against the beast and dropped his hammer, now attempting to wrestle with it. As he did so, I heard the first verse of the bard's song.
"Oh carry on my wayward soooon, there'll be peace when you are done~…" The bard strung along, his notes bringing a renewed vigor to the muscles of his companions. Just in the nick of time it seems as the knight snapped the vines off, quietly steaming as he glared at me. It seemed he wanted a piece of me, something I could relate with now.
As much as I wanted to comment on why in the hell that song sounds familiar, I was more focused on dealing with trying to cancel out the support casters in the back. My bear couldn't occupy the barbarian forever, even as the others tried to get a strike in here or there without getting creamed by him.
A thought struck me.
"Everyone back up! {Dust Devil}!"
I lowered the thorn barrier as that was sucking up mana at this point. A steady whirl of soil and sand flew towards the group, whipping debris around as it moved. I altered its direction as the three adventurers backed up and away through the gateway, pushing them out in order to avoid the spell.
"{Move Earth}!" I heard shouted over the whipping winds, my twister blocked by a wall of hardened ground. Thankfully, my group didn't need a cue, already jumping to the top of the palisade to deal what damage they could, jumping over it even if they didn't have a ranged means. I grimaced regardless, just as I felt the connection with my bear die off, and I instinticely ducked as I saw the shadow looming behind me, kicking out and catching the barbarian off-kilter, before throwing him overhead to the ground.
"NIce try jackass," I spat at the bulky, half naked man. "Gonna take a lot more than that to-"
I was cut off by the man punching himself off the earth and into a standing stance, yelling at the sky as red intermixed with the sheen of gray on him.
"... Ah shit," I cursed simply.
"Like hell I'm going to let some magic caster get the drop on me like that!" He roared with fury, picking his hammer back up and entering a spin. "{Whirlwind Swing}!"
The man practically became a significantly more lethal dust devil in his own right, and I was forced to rely on my increasingly diminishing mana pool in order to avoid him.
"{Jump}!" I shouted, bolting out of there as quickly as I could.
That didn't stop him from barreling through some of my comrades. Goblin parts splattered away helpless, torn apart by the momentum of his swinging steel. The lizardmen faired slightly better in the fact that they were still in one piece, but I don't think they could have easily survived that themselves as they were tossed aside like ragdolls.
"Grraaaaaaaaaaagh!" That beast of a man bellowed, coming to a barely dizzy stop as he turned to face my position with wild eyes. "{Bull Rush}!"
"{Sleetstorm}!" I cast, aiming overhead. The air above me thickened with wooly clouds, and soon a sheet of icy slush came crashing down. Was it freezing? Abso-fucking-lutely. Did I care? Not as long as it got to him too.
The barbarian attempted to barrel me over, even as I sprung to the size. He crashed straight through one of the goblin huts, forcing it to collapse in on him. He didn't let that stop him however, as he came bursting through with another mighty roar. That wasn't what brought me joy however. I saw that gray shield around him shimmer out, clearly having been either spent out or overpowered at this point.
"I'm going to feast on the flesh of your fucking pet lizards when I'm done!" He roared again, charging forward. In his rage however, he didn't seem to notice that the ground was starting to develop a sheet of slick ice, something that I was slowly getting caked to me as well. He lost his footing, sliding along the ice like a sickly fawn. Regardless, he screamed and shouted at me in anger as I smoothly slid to the side on the ice. Yet another thing I need to thank my aunt Myra for, ice skating lessons. Probably not as smooth in steel toe boots, but I was able to work with what I knew.
"{Bull Rush}!" He shouted again in his anger, trying to charge straight through the pounding sleet and ice. As he charged forward, I ducked and slid at the last second, making a slicing motion across his stomach with a deep cut. As he slid back in shock, before he was fully out of range, I thrust my hand forward into the gash and pulled.
The way he screamed caught everyone else's attention that wasn't focused on the palisade pelting the other three. I don't think I've ever heard anyone scream quite like that either. A long string of his bowels came pouring out with my fist, unable to stop as he'd already sent himself into motion with the bullrush and the ice preventing him from slowing down. His guts went out a solid two feet before a sickening tug silenced him, no more air coming out of his mouth.
I pulled him and I towards each other on the ice, and as he weakly attempted to claw at me I rounded him and dragged my brush-hook along his throat, pulling his head back as I did so, guts still in my fingers The resulting spray came back down on me, soaking me in crimson that slowly began to freeze into my tattered clothes and hat. It wasn't until the blood slowed to a trickle that the notification popped up.
{Level up! You have one unused level point!}
"By the ancestors…" I heard a lizardman murmur as he witnessed the display. Some of the demi-humans actually seemed briefly disturbed by the display. Meanwhile, all I could do was blankly stare with tired eyes, unsure of how to take what I just did myself.
Before I could respond, the earth wall set up at the gate crashed back open, a dust cloud billowing forth. A bolt of acid shot out wildly, nailing a lizardman in the skull and making him shriek. He was briefly splashed by magical water from one of our casters, but he was definitely down for the count.
"Gomer!" I heard the wizard shouting from through the dust, being led by the knight as he barreled out and slammed another lizardman out, sending him flying out. The three of them breached the cloud and drank in the situation, before their eyes settled on me. The knight seemed… surprisingly cool headed, only barely twitching at the sight before his lips simmered into a grimace. His other two companions seemed far less level headed at the sight however.
"Gomerrrrr!" The wizard screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Oh fuck, by the gods…" The bard stammered. "I- we need to get out of here!"
I realized that I was still hanging on to the barbarians guts, and… shit, there was blood caking my mouth too. That's disgusting.
"Pierrot, wait!" The knight shouted, but it was too late.
"We need to get out of here! Fuck the mission! If he can do that to Gomer than what the hell is he gonna do to us?!"
A little voice in the back of the head is telling me one thing. Seize the opportunity. I let 'Gomer' fall limp, only being held up by my grip on his intestines around his neck. I flick my brush-hook and slowly slide forward. I realized I must've been quite the sight, caked in ice and freezing blood.
"I can't let you go now, you know," I spoke just loudly enough to carry my voice to them. "Maybe if you took the peaceful path, I wouldn't have had issues, but now that you know we can tear you apart, that's information I can't have getting into the wrong hands"
Maybe it was shock, or maybe it was that… emptiness I haven't felt in some time, but something about the falling faces the bard had felt satisfying. Still, he stammered, trying to find some ground to stand on.
"H-hah, you don't know who we are, do you?!" Pierrot shouted. "We're a Platinum rank adventuring team! The only reason you even got Gomer was because you singled him out and managed to get lucky!"
I held my tongue. One trick I did know was that if you were in a position where words mattered, silence sometimes mattered the most. Kept my head above the waters when it came to disputes with mom as I got older. I stepped forward across the slush in the meantime, stepping out from the circle of pouring slush. My steps were slow, methodical. Make him think. In the meantime, I was actually panicking on the inside as I slid through the options that would help me out the most in my situation. Our main concern was the knight. We needed a way to keep him from going out and about, and I think I had just the spell tucked away in the spell list.
{Level Spent. Druid raised to 6! You now have one available spell point! Spell cap raised by three slots)
"B-but ah, you know, maybe we can make a deal?! You seem like such a strong fellow, a-ah… maybe if we just dropped everything and left without another word? I- I know, we could maybe take an oath or something, you savages are really on about that kind of stuff, right?!"
{Slow: This spell slows down a single target's movements, rendering them a vulnerable and easy target to strike}
"O-or maybe we could just uh, give you everything we had?! M-maybe that would be enough?!"
I was closer now, close enough that they could get a closer look of me. Whatever they saw made them blanch. The knight held his shield up, now intent to defend against me.
{You have now learned: Slow (Tier 3)! Zero spell points remaining}
"Forgive us!" The sobbing bard proclaimed. "We'll serve you instead! Just please let us li-hi-hiiiive!"
What the bard doesn't realize is that this entire time, I've seen him preparing the knives in his jacket. One of the many perks of being a fellow dirty fighter is that I've seen most of the tricks in the book used already. Good job digging your own grave.
"{Guidance}, {Slow}," I spoke simply, casting the first spell on myself before using the second on the knight, following up with ice-cold words I didn't want to have to speak. "Get them"
The bard whipped back up, attempting to throw his knives at me. Thanks to {Guidance} however, I deflected the blades one by one with my brush-hook, before extending a hand out. "{Ice Knife}!"
The icicle jabbed itself in the torso of the wizard just as he prepared to cast a spell, sucking the breath out of his words with a frozen touch. As the bard panicked and prepared another weapon, the paladins took the opportunity to charge, getting to the knight and distracting him before he could fully run forward, too sluggish to fully protect either of his comrades.
"We'd already lost a few people today, and then you had to just add to those numbers," I spoke. "I wanted peace, I wanted nothing more than to only spill the necessary amount of blood it would have taken to put things into place, and then you strolled along and ruined it"
I stepped forward, ignoring the clattering of clashing weapons coming from the knight as they forced him into a more defensive position back and away from myself and the bard. I looked down at the sniveling sack of a man, trying to back away as he realized he'd been caught.
"You expect mercy? Mercy is only shown to those who would show it in kind"
The bard screamed in fear, a faint trickle of fluid coming from his pant leg as he attempted to run. The others attempted to give chase, but I held a hand up. The group in the forest could handle him. As I stepped over to the wizard, clutching the icicle in his chest, he stared at me, with anger in his eyes. I stomped down on the icicle, getting a breathless howl of pain in response.
"Mercy is not for the weak. You can have all the strength in the world and show no mercy. You may be strong in body, but it means little if you do not have the strength of heart to show the kindness of life to your enemies. Believe me, that takes no small amount of willpower to be willing to see those who've slaughtered your men walk free. Unfortunately for you all, however, I am very weak"
I stomped it again, the wizard's eyes rolling back as he collapsed, either dead or unconscious from the pain. Finally, I turned towards the knight. Maybe if the four of them were kept together and they worked smoothly, they probably could have taken us out. Hell, the barbarian alone dealt quite a few death blows, nevermind some of the work that the other three probably dished out when I wasn't looking.
But that wasn't what happened. Once one was separated from the group, the rest of them collapsed like a house of cards piece by piece.
Despite the higher level, the knight was being pushed back by the group of armored warriors that made up for their lack of level with an equal degree of skill and numbers. I watched momentarily, finding this to be my moment of hesitation. After all I went through, now I couldn't see things through? Something felt different about this, and I wasn't sure why. At the very least, I tried not to show my hesitation, content to 'watch' instead while my inner thoughts swirled.
I… felt like this was supposed to remind me of something, but my mind felt too… clouded at this point. Slogged down. Something wasn't right.
"G-gaah!" The man screamed out with a surprisingly high pitch as his leg caved in to a mace, and as I stared at the man, I realized something. The knight looked kinda like my aunt Myra. Well, I guess that answers that. Not that I can afford to show mercy, though.
I readied my hand, aiming to hopefully cast one final spell. "{Ice Knife}"
The jagged shard of ice wedged itself in the knights throat, resounding in a loud gurgling noise as blood bubbled from the wound. The paladins stepped aside, and I stepped forward as the knight crumbled to… her, knees.
"For what it's worth girly, I'm sorry it had to be this way," I spoke coldly, getting a shocked stare from her. "But I can't let you live just because you're a woman, not after what you and yours just put us through"
I planted my boot in her throat, sending the ice shard through and making a gaping hole, her body collapsing as I'd severed her spinal cord with the shard. As she lay there bleeding out, I looked away. That fog on my mind was still there, but I needed to move.
"Start with gathering everyone up and patching their wounds, I want us moving as soon as we can"
I turned to a goblin that was shivering in fright at the sight of myself. "Do you happen to have a mirror among the things you stole? Something shiny and shows your reflection?"
"I-in loot tent," The goblin stammered, pointing shakily in its direction.
I nodded, looking on to everyone else. "Alright everyone, move it!"
They broke into motion, heading in every which direction. Now that the threat was handled, I needed to focus on myself for a moment. I thumped my way through the bustling crowd of demihumans, slowly and surely. Eventually, I'd manage to reach the tent without much issue, stepping inside and spotting what I was looking for in one corner without much problem. It was a small vanity mirror, slightly cracked but not to the point of useless. I saw my face in it, hot tears slowly welling up and streaming down as the dam started to break.
There were dark circles around my eyes, my beard made me look like the wild madman I used to be in Appalachia, I was soaked head to toe in red ice, and my clothes were torn beyond recognition. I collapsed under the weight of my pain and heaved, a slurry of dark brown sludge pouring out from my mouth as I threw up this morning's breakfast. The acidic spew clung to my beard and mustache, the scent pushing me forward and making me heave again.
I cried and sobbed between moments I vomited, desperately trying to string my thoughts into words. I wanted to go home.
The bard heaved and huffed, desperately trying to put as much distance between himself and whatever the hell that thing was. It couldn't have been human, not with how hungry those eyes looked. He cursed as his legs burned, hating himself for dropping his lute in the panic. He took no more than a brief moment to catch his breath, coughing in the process. As his coughing fit began to end and he spat out a coppery glob, a branch snap took him out of his thoughts. He whipped his head around, desperately looking for whatever caused it.
"H-hello?! Who's there?!"
Pierrot whipped around, panic setting in again and screaming at him to run. He would have had he chosen to a moment sooner.
Thwip!
"Gaaah, fuck!" He cursed out, stumbling to the ground as he clutched his leg. An arrow, of copper make had pierced straight through his calf.
They descended from the trees, like spiders upon the fly in their web, and surrounded the bard. Armed in that same copper get up, looming threateningly.
"No! Stop! Please, I give up! I yiel-"
A frozen copper spear found its way in his throat, and he stared at it's wielder with bleary eyes.
"I almost regret letting you through," The toadman surrounded by lizardmen spoke, a thought that only confused the bard more in his last breath. "I suppose i couldn't say for certain how things would have ended though, I almost expected Nolan to find a peaceful resolution to this one. A shame"
The spear in his throat twisted, and blood spurted out as he choked on his own life fluid. The toadman motioned to another lizardman in unique armor and nodded. "Let's regroup, Nolan probably still needs a hand"
They left the bard there, bleeding out in the forest litter alone. His last memories flashing before his eyes, thinking back onto his mistakes.
Nolan Potts, Human (Karma: 65 [Neutral]) [22/27 Spell slots used]
Classes: Brawler (6), Ranger (3), Druid (6), Clothier (3), Translucer (1). Total Level (20), Unspent Levels (1).
Spells (Druid): Frostbite, Entangle, Create or Destroy Water, Guidance, Jump, Cure Wounds, Dust Devil, Protect from Poison, Hold Person, Spike Growth, Lesser Restoration, Water Breathing, Darkvision, Sleetstorm, Ice Knife, Lightning Arrow, Torchlight, Slow
Spells (Ranger): Animal Friendship, Speak to Animals, Ensnaring Strike, Conjure Animals
Items of Note: {Humble Beginnings}
Party Members are as follows…
Member One: Todone, Son of Kodrotti, Toadman (Karma: 0 [True Neutral])
Classes: Toadman Warrior (10), Brawler (9), Martial Artist (1), Total Level (19).
Member Two: Yulg (Karma: 50 [Neutral])
Classes: Goblin Marauder (1), Brawler (8), Warrior (4), Cleric (1), Total Level (13)
AN: Whelp, that wraps it up. No mercy for the interlopers. Two things. First, the 'Unspent Level' is because our crew here finally bled out off screen before he could get a notification. So uh, yeah, they died slowly. Another note, the reason Nolan got that much is because he more or less 'kill stole'. The other lizardmen got some benefit out of it, but he dealt the finishing blows.
chongwillson: The Blazing Bulls were a problem. Still are, but that's a future issue.
UndyingSmiley: A fellow ZaryLulu enjoy, rejoice!
MairoGleon: He is actually, and these guys are actually stronger than your average platinum, a reason I'll get into in the future. But strength doesn't mean much in combination with coordination and numbers.
Rios: No they ain't. Not necessarily their fault, they're no less intelligent than any medieval age members of society from our world. Just ain't got the accumulation of centuries of history to help them know better.
Aicka: There is some juicy stuff, at least on the knight. The others, eh, they've got at least a couple things on them.
Anyways, that's about it. Eh, by the way, I'd like your guy's feedback on whether or not I should change the summary. While I'm okay with it, especially after the first summary I used, I'm starting to second guess it a little. Lemme know what y'all think.