Dungeons and Dragons
The Die Master
Chapter 3: The Die of Doom
The Die of Blindness landed near Hank with a result of 5. There was bright flash that knocked Hank back ,leaving him covering his eyes.
"Ah! I'm blinded! I can't see!" Hank shouted.
Bobby ran forward with his club shouting, "Hey! You leave him alone you big bully!"
"Pathetic," Mallacar remarked, and then he cast out his Die of Weakness at Bobby. The result was a full 8.
Bobby screamed as he was hit by a huge blast of yellow energy, and fell down flat on his face.
"Bobby!" Sheila shouted.
Uni brayed frantically as she nuzzled Bobby's side. Bobby could only moan as he made a few futile attempts to get to his feet.
Presto ran up behind Mallacar and reached into his hat. "Alright! Why don't you try this on for-."
Presto was suddenly cut off when Mallacar whirled around fast and threw his Die of Paralysis.
"Aw man!" Presto said as the Die landed on 6 and and zapped him into a living statue.
"And now to drain every last drop of your magic and take it for myself!" Mallacar said as he prepared to throw his 20 sided Die of Draining, when all of a sudden, something caught his arm.
"What? What's going on!" Mallacar said as he jerked his arm, trying to free it from what was holding it. With one final jerk, he freed it, sending the Die flying off away from the battle.
"Wha-? Oh no! I miss-casted!" Mallacar gasped.
Sheila came out from under her invisibility cloak and pointed at Mallacar, shouting, "Serves you right you evil wizard!"
"Hold on!" Eric shouted, "How is Sheila stronger than that wizard guy?"
Diana smiled and said, "I guess that's what happens when you rely on magic too much! You get old, weak, and flabby!"
"You fools! Nobody mocks me!" Mallacar said, he then pulled out a solid silver 20-sided crystal. He raised it high and said, "I desired a challenge, but you have become such an annoyance that I just cannot destroy you fast enough!" Mallacar's mustached face pulled into a wicked smile as he declared, "However, I intend on doing it in a very entertaining way. I'm quite sure Presto would be a better magician if he had someone with a brain calling the shots for him!" Mallacar then threw the silver die, shouting, "Go! Die of Possession!"
The Die landed at the feet of the paralyzed Presto. The result was a 10.
"10? I need more than that!" Mallacar said, and he raised one of his red gloves. The red gem in its palm flashed as he said, "Glove of Doubling!"
The Die suddenly flipped around to 20.
"This isn't gonna be fun," Presto thought.
"Let the end . . .begin!" Mallacar shouted.
Out of the silver crystal came silver wind that twirled and twisted into a vortex that swallowed up Presto. As the paralysis wore off, Presto yelled out in fear as he began spinning around and around.
After a very tense minute, the winds faded, and Presto fell back onto the ground hard.
"Get up!" Mallacar barked.
Presto got up shakily and silently.
"Show me your magic!"
Presto silently took off his hat, waved his hands over it, and out came and abundance of fireworks.
Mallacar clapped and said, "Very good. Now, how about something to cool your friends down?"
Presto nodded, and suddenly sent a blast of blue energy at Diana. When it hit her, it trapped her whole body, save her head, in ice; causing her to scream in pain from the extreme cold.
"Diana! What's going on?" Hank said as he rubbed at his eyes. Finally, the blindness wore off, and Hank could see what was happening. "What? Presto?"
"I think Mallacar's controlling him somehow!" Sheila said.
"It will be fun to watch your friend strike you all down one by one," Mallacar said cruelly, "Now, strike them!"
Presto shot a bolt of lighting out of his hat, which shot towards Hank. Eric ran in front of him and blocked the lightning.
"Ha! This will be easy!" Eric remarked, "Presto will probably make so many blunders that he'll send that guy running for his life! AHHHH!"
While Eric had been running his mouth, Presto had sent out a pair of hideous snakes, which quickly slithered up to Eric and tightly wrapped themselves around him, causing him to scream like a girl.
Hank quickly looked around. Diana was still frozen, Bobby was still lying on the ground, and Shelia had turned invisible. Hank quickly readied an arrow as Presto, who was hovering on air, floated over to him with a blank expression on his face.
"Ha! So, you'd destroy your friend, Ranger?" Mallacar chuckled.
"No," Hank said simply, and he fired the arrow. The energy arrow shot right over Presto's shoulder, and hit Mallacar square in the chest.
Mallacar grunted as he was forced backwards a few feet.
"That was a big mistake, fool!" he snarled. He then formed a sphere of red magical energy, and threw it.
Presto floated up and caught the blast in his hat. He then spun around fast, and sent a huge lazer blast that sent Hank flying through the air. Hank cried out in pain as he landed flat on his back.
"One more to go," Mallacar said. Suddenly, he felt something hit him hard in the stomach.
Mallacar double over in pain and growled with an evil voice, "You're going to regret that 'Little Miss Disappear'! Presto, reveal her!"
Presto nodded silently, and a huge cloud of fog gushed out of his hat.
Meanwhile, Bobby slowly got onto his knees and looked at the scene before him. He suddenly remembered a movie he saw once. There was a person who was invisible, but smoke or fog allowed him to be seen. Bobby knew he had to do something before before it was too late, but he still felt so weak. Bobby reached for his club, but it felt like it weighed as much as a truck.
Uni moved closer to him. Bobby rested a hand on her head nervously as he said, "What am I gonna do? I have to save Sheila. If only there was a way to snap Presto out of this. . ."
Bobby's eyes suddenly widened, "That's it!"
Mallacar looked around the foggy area intently until he saw it, a translucent outline running through the fog.
"There she is! Get her!" Mallacar shouted.
Presto prepared to send a powerful spell, when all of a sudden, Uni came running in, and jumped onto Presto's back.
"Gah! What are you doing? Shake it off you fool!" Mallacar shouted.
"Now Uni! Teleport!" Bobby shouted.
There was a quick glow, and Presto and Uni disappeared, and quickly reappeared near Sheila.
Presto moaned and held his head, "Ow, my head. . .Hey wait a minute. . I'm free!"
"What! How can this be?" Mallacar shouted.
Bobby chuckled as he used his club to get onto his feet. Still weak from the magic, he said, "I figured that if I had Uni teleport Presto, then maybe the magic would get left behind or canceled out or something, or maybe you'd loose track of him. Either way, it worked. You don't control Presto anymore!"
Mallacar's face turned red with rage. Every inch of him was filled with anger. "How dare he! How dare a mere child outsmart me! ME! The Creator of this world! No one is smarter then me! No one!" he though wrathfully.
Mallacar actually let out a villainous snarl as he took out a black crystal from his robe. "How dare you trick me! How dare you outsmart me! I cannot have anyone outsmart me! I will not have it! For what you did, you're going to pay!"
Mallacar threw the 20-sided crystal down with all the force he could muster. In landed on 5 as it rolled near Bobby's feet.
"Double, and redouble!" Mallacar declared as he raised both of his enchanted gloves, and the result changed from 5 to 10, and then to the full 20.
"You shall now regret the day you ever crossed me! Now, Die of Doom!"
Suddenly, out of the black die came a huge whirlwind that surrounded the young barbarian.
Bobby looked around with wide eyes as dust began to get kicked up around him, "Hey! What's going on! What's happening! Help!"
Bobby then began swinging his club wildly, but then it began to disintegrate in his hands. Bobby gasped as it fell into dust, which was then taken up by the whirlwind. But it didn't stop there. Soon, his helmet was disintegrating as well. Bobby looked down and saw that he was staring to disappear as well!
"Help!" Bobby shouted as the whirlwind picked up even faster, and with a final whoosh, Bobby was lost in a cloud of dust as the wind suddenly ceased.
"Therefore, I am superior!" Mallacar declared.
"No!" Hank shouted.
"You monster!" Diana shouted, still in her icy prison, "If I could just get out of here, I'd make you pay for this!"
"H-h-hold on a minute! Where did Bobby go exactly?" Eric stammered.
"Ignorant fool!" Mallacar spat, "Fine, I'll tell you plainly, I-." Mallacar suddenly stopped and quickly whirled and slapped something to the ground. A second later, Sheila reappeared lying on the ground.
"For a thief, you don't have much stealth," Mallacar said, but then he suddenly stumbled, nearly falling over. "Grr, I should have never used the Die of Possession and Die of Doom one after the other like that! I'm out of energy."
Mallacar quickly got up and looked at Sheila. The wizard actually smiled when he saw the look of blind rage on Sheila's face.
"I'll be at Venger's castle, resting and restoring my power. Unless you want the fate of your brother to be for nothing, I'd suggest you and your friends go there as well. I'll be waiting to finish what we've started." Mallacar then jumped into the air, and performed a spell that caused him to vanish in dark mist.
Hank silently sent an energy arrow that shattered the ice around Diana.
Presto sat down hard and said, "I can't believe it."
He looked over to see Uni frantically sniffing and digging at the spot where Bobby vanished.
Hank looked over at Sheila, who was averting her eyes from the others.
"Sheila," he said, "This is probably some kind of trick. I'm sure Bobby is still-."
Sheila cut him off when she silently lifted the hood of her cloak, vanishing from silent.
Hank sighed. Perhaps it was best to leave her alone. He could only hope that she didn't do anything stupid.
As he sat on the hard ground, Presto said in monotone, "If I didn't get caught, Bobby would have done that plan, and he'd still be here- OW!"
Presto looked over at Diana, who had hit him in the head with her green Javelin Staff.
"What was that for?" Presto asked angrily, massaging his head.
"For acting ridiculous!" Diana shouted, "We don't have any time to waste blaming ourselves. So let's just focus on getting back Mallacar. And I'm with Hank on this, Bobby could still be somewhere. So let's hurry up and get to Venger's castle so we can make Mallacar pay!"
Presto got up quickly and said, "Okay! Okay! I'm going! Let's take it to him!"
Eric clenched a fist tightly as he said, "And when I get my hands on Dungeon Master. . ."
"What are you talking about! Dungeon Master didn't do anything!" Presto said.
"Exactly!" Eric shouted, "He didn't help us at all! Besides, didn't you hear what he said? He's Dungeon Master's boss! All the stuff we've been through was just some crazy tests those jerks plans! This is all his fault, so if that little riddle making shrimp ever shows his wrinkled face around me again, I'll-."
"You'll what, Cavalier?"
Everyone turned and gasped.
"Dungeon Master!"