D&D Tag Along

Chapter 8: Second Conquest

A/N: I have finally figured out a reason behind why Boneheimer has taken such interest in Tint and Deanna. It's a bit of a stretch but please stay with me. This twist is going to cause a lot of problems for some of the characters. I'm still not sure where this idea came from but I believe it's a stroke of genius. Please leave your opinions after you've finished reading this.

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Boneheimer was a hideous sight before us. His flesh was falling off of his body, but was being quickly replenished by replacement skin being woven underneath. One tentacle fell off, flopping on the ground in agony. Just as soon as the tentacle quit squirming a new tentacle had grown in its place. It was sickening.

Deanna had slid behind me, cowering from the devious Mindflayer Lich. I held one hand behind my back, offering her the key to unlock our friends. I felt the key leave my hands as Deanna worked up a tiny bit of courage to speak to the undead ruler of this world. "What do you want with us?" She asked in a worried tone.

Boneheimer chuckled slightly, a sound that was even more frightening then his appearance. The voice was hollow, lacking any essence of life behind it. "I am surprised that you two never figured it out before. Why would I let my opponents escape unless I had larger plans for them? Thanks to you, I now have the rebels in my hand, ready to be crushed. But there is something else about the two of you that is different than any of the others. Something strange that I cannot place my finger on."

I gulped nervously as Boneheimer raised himself out of his seat, slowly approaching me. He brought his face right up close to mine, his breath reeking of death. "Maybe you will tell me the secret about you and your beautiful counterpart." He suggested, placing a threatening tentacle on my shoulder.

"Go fornicate yourself." I replied. I realized the stupidity of my response shortly before hitting the wall on the opposite side of the room. The wall was unkind, not giving the slightest in comfort, instead delivering a sharp jolt of pain as my head crashed against the wall. The world around me became really blurry and was spinning.

My senses sharpened immediately when I heard Deanna scream out. I jumped up to my staggering feet and turned to see what had happened. Boneheimer had wrapped a tentacle around Deanna's neck, lifting her off the ground. Deanna was squirming, desperately trying to escape the choking grasp of the Mindflayer Lich. "Maybe if you will not tell me, she might." Boneheimer commented with a gratified grin as he tightened his grip.

"Get your rotten hands off of her!" I ordered. I pulled out my sword, pointing the blade at Boneheimer. The Mindflayer looked over at me with an amused look on his face as I charged forward. I swung out at the tentacle that had Deanna restrained, desperately attempting to lob off the flailing part.

I felt a harsh sting cross my face as Boneheimer struck out with another free tentacle. My skin burned intensely, forcing me to stop in my tracks to cringe at the attack. Boneheimer reached out with the tentacle again, this time wrapping the slithering thing around my waist. The evil creature proceeded to pull me up close to his face again, wrapping more tentacles around me.

"We sure are the little pest. I could easily snap both of your necks, but where would the fun be if I did that? It is obvious that you have feelings for this girl. It would be a shame if I killed her, don't you agree?" Boneheimer smirked as he forced me to turn my head and look at Deanna.

Her face was turning blue and her struggles were becoming weaker. She couldn't last much longer. I had to do something to save her. "OK, I'll tell you our secret, but on one condition. You have to spare her life." I offered, disgusted that I was going to sell out my world.

A frightened look crossed Deanna's face as she realized what I was about to do. "No, Tint! Don't do it. I'm not worth it!" She gasped out. Boneheimer responded to her outburst by tightening his grip on her until her head rolled over into unconsciousness. He was obviously enjoying putting me in such a compromising position.

"I agree to your terms. This girl will live. Hurry up and tell before I go back on my generous decision." Boneheimer responded, loosening his grip on Deanna a tiny amount, letting her be able to breathe in her unconscious state.

"Sorry." I whispered, apologizing to all of the people I was about to condemn to Boneheimer's terrorizing rule. "Deanna and I come from the future. The portal is located inside of the pub in the town on the opposite side of the forest."

A groan of disappointment came from my friends inside of their cage. I looked over apologetically, feeling horrible for what I had just done. I was relieved slightly when I noticed that Sparks was still working on unlocking the cage. If my friends were free, then maybe, just maybe, we could slay Boneheimer before he took off to conquer my time period.

Meanwhile, Boneheimer was pondering what I had said. "Interesting. The future, you say? That was a mighty brave decision that you made. Not everyone would betray their entire world for one unimportant girl. I will let you and your friends live." Boneheimer turned, heading towards the entrance to the prison area. He still had Deanna clutched tightly in his tentacle.

"Hey! What about Deanna? Aren't you going to let her go?" I demanded.

Boneheimer emitted his frightening chuckle again. "And give up my trump card? If I take this girl with me, I guarantee that I have a safe escape. Plus, if what you tell me is a lie, I kill her." Boneheimer's evil laughter echoed through the halls as he headed off towards new worlds to conquer.

I collapsed to my knees, the horrible realization that I had put Deanna in such a bad position, weighing me down. I felt somebody walk up beside me. I turned my head slightly to see who had joined me. It was Jillian. The others were making their way out of the cell, glad to be free. But there was the sorrow of knowing that Deanna was in serious trouble. I cringed slightly as somebody cuffed me across the back of the head. It was Sparks, of course, who had delivered the slap. "Dumb ass." He accused.

Jillian put a consoling hand on my shoulder. "You did the right thing." She said, but I didn't believe her, even in the slightest.

"How can you be so sure? I saved one person at the expense of billions. How can you say that was the right thing to do?" I demanded.

Jillian was unable to supply an answer. She didn't know what the positive side, if any, was to Boneheimer's new quest to my world. At least we were safe, momentarily. But, there was still the battle raging outside. Sparks was quick to suggest that we get out of here and join the fighting. We all agreed, half-heartedly, and collected the stray belongings of the party.

We wound our way through the twisting tunnels of the underground of Dondoria. Turn after turn, we past by mysteriously empty rooms. It was almost like Boneheimer had taken his entire army with him. Even the armories were empty. Things were not looking good for modern times.

The group kept running, searching for a way out of this twisted place. I stopped my run, spotting a faint glimmer of sunlight from down one side tunnel. "I think I found a way out!" I shouted as I turned down the tunnel.

The tunnel slanted slightly upwards, leading to higher ground. The light continued to grow brighter as I neared the source. The air was growing more breathable. Soon, I found myself faced with a ladder leading upwards, just like the tower that I had used to enter this town. But, that time was with Deanna and she was gone now.

Sparks and the others were just a short bit behind me as I began to climb up the ladder. I found myself at the top of the ladder and climbed onto the surface that was above. I looked around at my surroundings and found myself on top of one of the towers. There were no sounds of pitched battle, so I walked over to the railing and looked out across the field. I was greeted with a large cheer from the resistance soldiers, who were already celebrating their victory.

I was joined by my friends, who were immediately taken aback by the shear massive size of the gathered troops. "What happened to Boneheimer's forces?" Tagorus asked.

Gabriel nodded her horned head. "When we were being dragged into the prison, we were paraded in front of his troops. There had to be at least thirty thousand men." The half fiend elf explained.

I uttered a nervous laugh, thinking back to my plan to enter Dondoria. I knew that I had taken out a vast majority of the forces, but that still left a whole bunch still alive. I shrugged my shoulders in a carefree manner, which was really just an act. "I guess that Boneheimer took everyone with him. My time period is so screwed."

The resistance forces quickly moved in, taking back control of the entire city. They found the streets practically empty, save for a few hiding peasants. Shortly after the troops' conquest of the town was complete, the king summoned us to join him in his throne room.

We found the king basking in his returned glory. A trail of servants was supplying the ruler with a constant supply of ale. The king noticed our approach and beckoned for us to join him for a drink. "Ah, yes. The heroes who defeated Boneheimer and forced him to flee. Well done! Boneheimer will never dare to show his face in these parts again."

Jillian bowed respectfully as she approached the king. "We have a few problems that need to be dressed immediately. Boneheimer has gone to the future era and had taken all of his men with him."

The king merely shrugged off this piece of news. "Big deal. The future does not affect us in any way. We should bask in this glory and do nothing."

"But, my Lord!" Rurik exclaimed as he joined Jillian, "Boneheimer has taken one of our friends with him!"

Once again, the king dismissed this information, looking casually over our group. "So he took the girl from the future back to her time. She is an acceptable casualty." With this announcement, the king took a big sip from his goblet. Is it just me, or is this guy a real jackass? How can he be an improvement over Boneheimer?

I had enough of the king. I pointed an angry finger at him, stating in a threatening voice, "We have to go do something, if not to save Deanna, then to save this time period. In my time era, we have guns and bombs and airplanes and tanks and nukes. Give Boneheimer access to these weapons and he's going to come back more powerful than ever. I can guarantee that we won't stand a chance against these weapons."

The king considered my words of wisdom. Suddenly, an interesting idea came to his mind. "That settles it! Tint will go to his time period and get his hands on these weapons, supplying us with enough firepower to destroy Boneheimer once and for all!"

"Why me?" I asked. "Why not send the rest of the group with me?"
The king smiled. "I am surprised that your friends did not tell you about the negative effects of the portal. For some reason, only people from your era and evil creatures can travel through it unharmed."

I looked to my friends for support. Both Jillian and Tagorus nodded their heads in agreement. "What are the chances of the portal allowing evil things through unharmed?" I asked, my voice filled with sarcasm. I was really not liking this entire war. Maybe if I had just stayed at home instead of listening to Deanna. But then I would have been thrust into this war, but completely caught by surprise. What is the saying? Screwed if you do, screwed if you don't.

Arrangements were quickly made to arrange to transport me to the town that held the portal. I was to leave in just a few hours, by way of Pegasus. All this information came flying at me, causing my head to hurt from overload. The only thing that I understood was that I was going to be thrust into a very dangerous world, all by myself.

My friends had all came by to have a small farewell party for me. They all were sure that I was heading to my doom. Jillian was the first to offer her words of wisdom. "Good luck in your time. Try to find people who are going to stay loyal to you and fight against Boneheimer with every ounce of strength in your body. If Boneheimer returns here, we will avenge your death."

Rurik was next up. "I have a favor to ask of you. On your return can you bring some of your futuristic ale? May need it for a celebration."

Tagorus stepped in as Rurik joined Jillian. "I am sorry that I never got to know you better, Tint. The only thing that I can say to you is repeat something that Deanna told me once. It was during the time when you were stuck in the Kobold Cave and we were looking for you. 'Tint can be very resourceful. He's the only one I know who can screw up something easy and blow it out of proportion. But somehow, he always manages to find a way out of it.' I just hope that you can pull off some more of magic."

I was starting to become a little emotional, but my impatience was growing. I wanted to get out of here and do something. But, I was still afraid of what waited me on the outside. Gabriel came up and offered me her piece of advice. "Do not fight anything smaller than you. You have bad luck against midgets." Stupid Kobolds.

The last of my well wishers took her leave. Fido and Sparks had gone off to inform the troops about the state of the war. The forces needed to know that the war wasn't over yet. If I ended up failing, they would be required to continue the fight. Failing. The thought of it scared me.

A messenger arrived to inform me that my transportation had arrived. The young boy led me through the streets of Dondoria towards a large stage in the center of town. Perched on top of the stage was a stunning white horse with a pair of beautiful feathery wings. The messenger bid me farewell as he disapeared down a side street.

I carefully and calmly approached the Pegasus, holding up my hands to show that I meant the creature no harm. I had no clue if this animal was peaceful or trained. For all I knew, the king had captured this creature in the wild and was finally releasing it. I knew that I didn't want to be riding this creature when it decided to break free.

To my surprise, the Pegasus let me approach it without even flinching. I noticed that the creature was standing on the stage on its own free will. No chains or ropes held the creature at bay. I nervously placed my hands on the winged horse's back, readying myself to mount the magnificent creature. The second I sat down the Pegasus bolted up into the air and off towards my destination. I was about to find out if I could hold my own in my own twisted world.

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A/N: I guess I'm taking another idea from Inuyasha. Return to present times for a couple of chapters. It will be interesting to see how Boneheimer is going to try to take over the world. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.